The Silent Spy
by SilverBeastHaven
Summary: Penelope Woods: orphan, meta, and a decent spy. Seven years after the death of her parents and younger sister, Penny stumbles across the covert group of protégés known as 'the team'. Invited by the one and only Batman to join the motley gang, she faces threats alongside her fellow teenagers as they unravel the mystery of the Light. Season 1. ON HIATUS!
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: I absolutely do NOT own Young Justice or any other characters affiliated with it**

 **I do, however, own my OC Penny.**

...

Penny dropped the folder lightly onto Matveev's desk, causing a silent puff of air to clear the other documents away from the manila folder.

"Everything in here?" the Russian mob boss asked, tilting his head in the universal gesture of curiosity. Penny dipped her head in a nod, listening as he grunted in acceptance and shuffled the papers out, carefully skimming through them. No other sounds echoed through the halls, so hopefully none of his thugs were waiting to ambush her. Matveev tossed her a wrapped bundle of dollars, eyeing her cautiously as the spy quickly flipped through to check the amount.

"Go ahead," he said, motioning to the plain wooden door.

Penny smiled under her mask, stashing her payment into her belt and ran- straight to the open window and diving out of it as crashes rang into Matveev's office, the result of multiple gangsters trying to get through the tiny door frame to catch Penny.

Never trust a murderer.

She would turn him into the police soon enough through anonymous tips. She did it with most of her employers, and also to the mobsters that she spied on while working for her employers. Being a small-time spy, not many people actually hired her, but she had quickly gained the reputation of: strictly non-lethal, non-thieving, and con-criminal in general. So she was only hired when the employers were desperate, confident of their ability to contain her afterwards, or unaware of her reputation. Although because of multiple reasons, Penny made a _very_ good spy.

Although, maybe it should be noted that she's currently free-falling from a four-story apartment building.

Penny had about two seconds to act. Not enough time to pulled out a length of rope, and the building wasn't metal, so her gloves couldn't latch on if she turned on their magnetism. The rough landing it was.

She kicked against the wall, pushing towards the building opposite, hindering her fall by briefly grabbing a windowsill- not long enough for her body to get a jolt from the sudden stop, but long enough to release some of the momentum. Penny then kicked off that wall, doing a backwards somersault straight into the other wall right near the ground, stopping her back from hitting the wall by thrusting her hands behind her. This caused most of the remaining impact to coil into her arms, bouncing her off the wall and landing her on her knees in the alley, palms on the ground and head down for a moment*.

 _Hey, that wasn't too bad,_ Penny thought, quickly climbing back up the wall, knowing that the thugs would be coming down to the alley in a last attempt to grab her. _After all, it looked like it hurt a lot more on TV. Though, maybe the guy had done it wrong. And he did do it from a lot higher building._ Once on the roof of Matveev's apartment, Penny had swift travel from that section of Astro City to her house. Of course, she wasn't seen. What use was an invisibility belt when people could see you, after all? Hint: she turned it on soon after departing her most recent employer's residence.

Penny left her payment in her room and, grabbing the backpack she had filled earlier that day, left via window again.

Destination: Happy Harbor.

...

 ***I'm pretty sure this is possible**

 **So, a few clarifying facts:** **Penny/Glance is 16 years old( a little small, and slender, for her age) and lives with her grandparents, h** **er grandparents know what she does, and she** **is _mute_. She cannot speak. Just warning you, so in case I accidentally type that she said something out loud, alert me.**

 **Also, shout-out to tysongirl123, to whom I submitted Glance as a character in n syoc: this Penny/Glance is slightly modified, if you read this, don't base the character of Glance off of my story, but rather the oc form I sent you.**

 **Next chapter should take place in the episode: "welcome to happy harbor"**

 **That's all, guys!**

 **P.S. constructive reviews, please. Or you can just say that you love this story. Either way, I'm good.**


	2. Welcome to Happy Harbor P1

**Disclaimer: I absolutely do NOT own Young Justice or any other characters affiliated with it** (do I have to repeat this? I might, to be safe :P)

 **Also forgot to mention that Penny/Glance** _ **does**_ **have powers(or,** _ **a**_ **power): she has adaptive muscle memory, which means that she can flawlessly perform any feat of the body(dance, acrobatics, advanced/any fighting techniques…), as long as she witnessed someone else do it; hence the alias 'glance', because she doesn't have to watch for any specific amount of time.**

 **Plus, being mute, she's homeschooled, therefore giving her 'activities' lots of flexibility. Anyways, on with the** **story!**

mmmmmmmmmm LINEBREAK mmmmmmmmmmmm

Penny had a week to spend, and naturally, the first thing she did was go to the beach. She had stopped by the house she was renting and dropped of most of her stuff there, only keeping a small polyester gym bag containing her invisibility/utility belt and a protein bar for in case she got into trouble(the belt is for trouble, the protein bar isn't). However, dressing up in khakis, a white short-sleeved shirt, flip-flops, and a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses probably wasn't the best idea for concealing her identity or for combat. But hey, she was on vacation(sort of). And nobody would recognize her here anyways.

But of course the _combat_ part had to come into play.

Penny dug her toes into the sand, feeling the crystalline grains rush effortlessly between them, and grinned at the water. The early afternoon sun was a orb of bright colors, and hardly anything could be heard over the perpetual thrum of the ocean. Well, except for that crash, just now. And oh, that other one- Penny whirled around, turning her sights to the Happy Harbor power plant, and the light grey swirling clouds that made up a tornado. She may be merely visiting Happy Harbor, but Penny was pretty sure those things weren't common here.

And what other _rational_ decision could she possibly make, other than to investigate?

It was a quick sprint to the parking lot, and Penny stayed just at the fringe of the area where she felt the tornado starting to tug on her, sidling against a tree. She slung her bag off of her shoulder and pulled out her belt buckling it around her waist just in case she needed to be invisible, or needed any other of the various gadgets she had stowed in there.

Suddenly, a red and black aircraft slid out of the tornado's thick winds, coming to a rest in the parking lot, which was now free of cars. Five teenagers dropped out from the bottom, but Penny couldn't make out their faces from where she was. _Wait, had they been_ piloting _that plane? I'm feeling sort of jealous…_

The aircraft disappeared, most likely by a cloaking device of some sort, and the tornado swiftly progressed around the power plant, sending panicked workers running out of the building. It didn't seem to be hurting the civilians, instead heading straight inside the power plant without damaging the structure.

The dark-skinned teen said something, but try as she might, Penny couldn't tell what he was saying. However, his action drew her attention to the group again: a green-skinned and reddish-haired girl(like the Martian Manhunter?), a caucasian redheaded boy, the dark-skinned boy, and another caucasian boy with deep black hair.

Wait, hadn't there been _five_ teens?

The group seemed to notice their friend's absence as well, because they all made a beeline for where the tornado had vanished. After a moment's hesitation, Penny followed, activating her invisibility belt. She didn't know for sure, but she thought she recognized the dark-skinned boy. She needed a closer look at his face; never mind the plant workers, they should be fine running away from all the action; Penny was heading in.

She entered just in time to hear the black-haired and well built teenager ask the black-haired boy wearing sunglasses(ones that did a much better job of keeping someone's identity secret than Penny's) who was also laying on the ground, "Who's your new friend?"

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kinda rough," the boy replied in a irritated voice. He had clearly been tossed around before Penny had arrived at the scene. Speaking of which, she glanced at the dark-skinned boy from earlier, finally putting a name to his now clearly visible face. _Aqualad? That means the others must be proteges of the League as well. Probably._

However, the main attraction of the circumstance was the bulky robot posed in the center of the room. It was mottled in red and black, light blue tube sprouting out the back and a raggedy, dull, scarf flowing with the wind that was blowing around the robot.

"My apologies," the android droned, "you may address me as Mister Twister."

New dubbed 'Mister Twister' promptly sent twin gusts of wind out of his hands, aiming them both at the bigger black-haired boy*, who managed to resist the gale for a few seconds, even advancing towards the villain, until Mister Twister changed its robot mind and sent a mini-tornado at him, which effectively knocked him against a wall- and out.

Then there was this really intense(for them, but awkward for Penny) show of the group just nodding their heads at each other as the smaller black-haired boy picked himself off the floor with a slight groan. Penny climbed around the railing area and watched, prepared to intervene if need be as they charged the waiting robot. The redhead(or is he a ginger?) was the fastest, starling Penny with his superhuman speed, though if they really were partners to the League, it made sense; he would probably be Kid Flash.

Maybe-Kid-Flash did a roll and tried to kick Mister Twister with both his feet, but it was straightforward attack, and the robot was prepared, easily blowing Maybe-Kid-Flash right out the wide, open part of the power plant, causing him to tumble on the rough asphalt of the parking lot. _That looks like it caused some extreme road burns._

As Penny was wincing at the sight of Kid Flash(okay, how likely is it that another ginger/redhead with superspeed is teamed up with Aqualad? So, not 'maybe') skidding across the ground, the martian girl and Aqualad ran(in the girl's case, flew) towards the android, only to be treated the same way, the atlantean slammed against a pillar, and the girl against the railings near the entrance. Only the kid(who could possibly be Robin, or someone else entirely) wearing the sunglasses was left, and he had spent the majority of the brief fight clutching his ribs.

"I was prepared to be challenged by superheroes," Mister Twister said in what could be considered a smug tone, had he not been a robot, "I was not, however, expecting children."

 _Oh, he did_ not _just pull that one out on them!_ Sure, most of them looked younger than Penny(she looked young herself- more the size of a 14-year-old than a 16-year-old thanks to her ancestry), but it was obvious that they were all _teenagers_. Which technically isn't _children._ And Sunglasses apparently thought so to, because he threw two projectiles at the android, indignantly yelling, "we're not children!"

Penny took this as her cue, since Mister Twister would be occupied with said projectiles and hopefully wouldn't notice if she landed on his back where all the tube things were. Maybe if she destroyed those, he would shut down, or at least lose his ability to manipulate wind.

Landing on his back was the easy part. Penny took a large leap, snagging one of the tubes in her invisible hands as the first projectile blew up in Mister Twister's face, and she hauled herself onto his shoulders, trying to not to bring Twister's attention to the sudden weight increase. The hard part, however, was figuring out how to break the tubes. They had supported her weight, so they were pretty strong, but just how strong?

Mister Twister pulled out the second projectile a flicked it away in disdain before replying to Sunglasses, "Objectively you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite...disturbing."

"Well, we'd hate to see you _disturbed,"_ Sunglasses retorted as the banter continued. The martian girl, Aqualad, and the larger black-haired boy who Penny now noticed was wearing the Superman symbol on his shirt had all gotten up again, prepared to keep fighting. "Let's see if you're more _turbed_ once we kick your can!

 _Wait, 'turbed'? Is that a word?_ Momentarily distracted, all Penny could do was hang on for dear life as the martian girl used telekinesis to send a large amount of steam into Twister's vision, as well as Penny's. She would have to think of something soon, or she would accidentally get hurt by the young heroes' attacks.

Speaking of which, Superman Symbol was letting out a roar _,_ about to bring his fists down on the robot. Luckily for Penny, but not so luckily for the boy or the martian girl, he was sent flying by more wind gust attacks and collided with the girl mid-flight.

At any second, Mister Twister could make a sudden move and feel her moving on his back, and Penny didn't intend to be blown away by his power(Someone call the joke police! That pun was a crime! A disgrace! Just plain horrible!) anytime soon.

Penny positioned herself so that she was back-to-back with the robot, hands hanging onto the prominent tubes and feet resting against one of the other tubes. She could hear whoever was still standing rushing Mister Twister. _Now or never._ She started to bring her feet towards herself and sharply kicked out, both feet straining against the tubes.

And it popped out of Twister's back- but as it did, Mister Twister shifted abruptly, moving downwards as he practically punched the ground, sending Penny dangling from the left tube, other arm having let go of the now-broken right tube. The last of the bright blue fluid splattered against her belt, causing the central device that controlled her invisibility to make a hissing noise, and suddenly Penny was visible.

And hanging by one arm from a supervillain, who had just finished whamming Sunglasses and Aqualad together with his tornado powers, and whose head had now rotated just enough to look at the teenage girl taking him for a joyride.

"Well, what do I have here?"

mmmmmmmmmm LINEBREAK mmmmmmmmmmmm

 ***why couldn't they have made Superboy's hair some other color? I had to call him 'the other black-haired boy' a lot. Plus, I apparently cannot tell the difference between a ginger and a redhead.**

 **But did I do okay with this chapter? Any ideas for the next storyline-maybe the next YJ episode, or getting to know the team?**

 **And don't say you hate cliffhangers. They're awesome!**

 **And sometimes annoying.**


	3. Welcome to Happy Harbor P2

**Some great reviews going on. Hope Part 2 of W.H.H. is satisfactory! I split it up a little uneven, though, so this is a lot longer than part 1.**

 **And hey, this is what sign language looks like!** **Additionally, writing will be in BOLD, mindlink will be** _like this_ **, and Penny's thoughts are in** _italics_ **.**

 **Apparently gingers have red/orange hair, pale skin, and freckles. So, Kid Flash is a ginger. And redheads are people who are not gingers… cheers, Google.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Young Justice or any characters affiliated with it. I also don't own...stuff that isn't what I do own**

ooooooooooooooo

Last time on The Silent Spy: _The last of the bright blue fluid splattered against her belt, causing the central device that controlled her invisibility to make a hissing noise, and suddenly Penny was visible._

 _And hanging by one arm from a supervillain who had just finished whamming Sunglasses and Aqualad together with his tornado powers, and whose head had now rotated just enough to look at the teenage girl taking him for a joyride._

" _Well, what do I have here?"_

Penny's head hurt. A lot. She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling blankly for a moment before realizing that the reason she was taking a nap was tramping around outside the power plant. _I can't have been out that long_ , Penny thought, scrambling woozily to her feet and blinking furiously to clear her vision, _because I haven't really recovered from Mister Twister smacking me into the wall. A minute, maybe. That's a really short time to be knocked out._ Her sunglasses were on the floor, and Penny ignored them, instead pulling out her spare mask and plastering it to her face. _Guess removing that tube didn't do anything._

"I got you, Wally," someone said outside, probably the martian girl from the sound of the voice. _Okay, if the group of kids woke back up, how come they didn't see me?_ Penny looked down at her invisibility belt, blaming it for her misery, and it sparked. Her body flickered out of sight, but only for a moment.

 _That's what I thought. I'll have to fix it later._ Penny scowled, prying off the circular device and stuffing it into one of her belt's compartments. The gym bag seemed to be lost; did she drop it before running into the Happy Harbor power plant?

"I would have you had _all_ learned your limitations by now," Mister Twister drawled, leading Penny to peer out the garage-style door at the confrontation. Sunglasses, Superman Symbol, Aqualad, and the martian girl had rejoined with Kid Flash, and all had their backs to Penny. There was a long, shallow burrow in the ground, probably caused by Mister Twister earlier, when he was still posing as a tornado.

"What do you want?" Aqualad asked in frustration. He took a step forwards.

Mister Twister rose into the air and replied, "Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a _real_ hero."

 _Ouch._

Aqualad made a quiet comment the martian girl, who responded with an uncertain tone before Sunglasses said outright, "It's okay with the bad guys!"

The martian girl then obliged to whatever Aqualad had told her to do, and tilted her head. Penny leaned farther out the door to get a good view of what the martian was doing, but then the girl was all like, "Hello, Megan! Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?" _She's right, he's even red- but why would Red Tornado endanger civilians and cause property damage, or even do this in the first place?"_

"Red Tornado sent us here," Aqualad said slowly, and Sunglasses finished, "After saying we'd be tested soon enough. _This_ is his test; something to keep us _busy._ "

 _Now I feel like I don't belong here. This sounds like it's between the teenagers and Mister Twister. But I can't just stand here. If he isn't Red Tornado, I'll regret not helping, and the worst that could happen if he is? I could potentially be told off for interfering with a private matter, and will be extremely embarrassed. Then again, this_ did _interrupt my nice day at the beach._

The group approached Mister Twister angrily. Sunglasses shouting first, "We know who you are, and what you want."

"So let's end this," Aqualad said.

"Consider it ended," Mister Twister remarked, raising his hands above his head and sending spiraling tornadoes into the sky. Penny narrowed her eyes as dark grey clouds joined together in a hurricane-like storm. Ferocious winds whipped the grass as the teens proceeded into the meadow.

Of course, the mood had to be ruined by Penny's lazily-placed mask peeling comically off her face until she adjusted it into a more permanent position. Penny breathed out a sigh as Aqualad said something that she couldn't hear. She knew she could to regret this...but she slipped out the door, edging towards the woods in the lightning storm. If she was closer, she would be able help a lot better.

Her clothes stood out slightly against the sandstone-red bricks of the power plant, but at least she wasn't wearing her combat suit, because then the color scheme of dark grey, black, and silver would really have stuck out-as much as a sore thumb. It was enough that the only person( _cough_ , robot, _cough_ ) facing her way didn't notice her, intent as he was on the group of teenagers.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic," Penny managed to hear Mister Twister say over the clap of another lightning bolt. She dashed into the forest just as a large blue bolt struck dangerously close to the young superheroes, tossing them backwards and leaving only Superman Symbol standing. With a very torn jacket, which he promptly ripped off before leaping _really_ high into the air, and getting struck by lightning again. He left a pretty long burrow in his wake when he crashed into the ground. Mister Twister descended, lightning crackling along his humongous fingers. Penny widened her eyes, realizing that there was a high probability of them all turning to ashes pretty soon, and made a quick decision.

Darting out of the forest, Penny jumped over the trench created by Superman Symbol's (hopefully temporary) downfall and jerked to a stop in front of the unconscious team, hands on hips.

"You again?" Mister Twister scoffed, "Give up now, and you won't suffer the same fate as your comrades."

That's what they all say, Penny motioned in sign language, remaining tense but knowing full well that the robot wasn't getting what she was trying to say. The android made a threatening move, about to raise his hands in maybe another lightning strike, when a strange force field grew over the teenagers, and he looked around like he couldn't see them.

"Fine then. I won't deny you children have power. But playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives-" here someone groaned, and Penny looked to see Kid Flash waking up, but with the martian girl blocking him from giving away their position, "-So _stay_ concealed. If you confront me again, I will show. No. Mercy."

And...he flew away, letting Penny relax for a bit, although he was off terrorizing a different part of Happy Harbor, no doubt.

"What happened?" Kid Flash said groggily before waving his hand vaguely in Penny's direction, "and who's that?"

"I placed the bioship between us," the martian girl breathed, then looked at Penny as well, "but I don't know who that is."

Penny gazed back, sighed, and relented, rummaging around in her belt for a second or two. _Oh come on, it has to be in here somewhere._ The moment of awkwardness was interrupted when Superman Symbol punched a solid clump of dirt and drew all of the proteges' attention to his ditch.

"And that's supposed to make it right?" he growled in barely suppressed rage, stomping over to the martian girl, "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"

"She didn't do it on purpose," Aqualad defended. Penny was starting to feel out of place again.

"It was a rookie mistake," Sunglasses butted in, "We shouldn't have listened."

"You are pretty inexperienced," Kid Flash added, before pointing an accusing finger at Penny, "and I ask again. Who is she?"

Penny rolled her eyes and shoved out the notebook on which she had scribbled: **Glance**.

"Hit the showers, we'll take it from here," Sunglasses said, ignoring Penny and directing his command to the martian girl.

"Stay out of our way," Superman Symbol finished, glaring at both Penny and the martian girl. _Hey, what did_ I _do?_ The three then took of running(or jumping, in Superman Symbol's case) to who-knows-where, leaving Aqualad, the martian girl, and Penny behind.

"I was just- just trying to be part of the team," the martian girl said miserably.

"To be honest, I'm not we really have a team," Aqualad admitted, casting Penny a curious look as he hurried to catch up with the rest of the teenagers. _Well, this is certainly not what I expected my vacation to be like,_ Penny thought, looking somberly at the martian girl.

 **Hey, what's your name?** Penny wrote, feeling really awkward as she showed it to the martian girl, who looked up at the notebook.

"Miss Martian...why aren't you talking?"

 **Can't.**

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Penny snorted. **For what? You didn't make me mute. By the way, aren't you going after your friends?**

"No. They made it clear that they don't want me around."

 **Ah, well. You have telekinesis though, right? Even if you can't read his mind, you could still smash Mister Twister with a rock or something similar.**

"Yes I could-" Miss Martian then breathed in sharply, "that's it!"

 **Say what-now?** Penny tried, but the girl was already boarding the previously camouflaged ship.

"Are you coming or not?"

 **LinebreakwowthesethingsarefuntobabbleinbutIreallyshouldcontinuewiththestory**

 _Listen to me,_ Miss Martian started, via mindlink. Penny had a feeling this would become her favorite way of communication, especially since it didn't require vocal chords, paper/pencil, or knowledge of sign language. The martian bioship was ultra-cool, too. _All of you_

 _What did we tell you?!_ Superboy(okay, it was obvious what his name was the whole time) snarled out loud on his end.

 _I know! And I know I messed up! But now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please, trust me…_

 **WowsuchashortsegmentbuttheselinebreaksofwordsreallyhurtmyeyesandIlikeit**

Penny watched from the bioship as Red Tornado zoomed up to Mister Twister.

"Hit the showers, boys," the robot hero commanded. Penny would have giggled at how close it sounded to what Robin(she had picked up his name during the briefing of the plan) had told Miss Martian to do earlier, had she been able to without it sounding ridiculously hoarse. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot."

"But we've got a plan now," Robin protested weakly.

"The subject is not up for debate," Tornado said in his metallic voice. The teenagers gave up without much resistance, trudging away dejectedly.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Mister Twister started.

Red Tornado produced a tornado and sent it at Mister Twister, "I am here now."

After a few goes with Mister Twister, each sending out tornadoes in vain, Red Tornado announced, "We are evenly matched, Twister."

"No, Tornado, we are _not!_ " The evil android insisted, sending Red Tornado flying with a large shock of lightning. Tornado lay on the ground, electricity sparking all over his body. Penny leaned a little closer, worried as Twister sent small cords from his fingertips to the robot hero and said, "Remain still, android. The reprogramming won't take long."

"Longer than you might think," Miss Martian combated smugly, reverting Tornado's head back to her own and yanking on the cords long enough for Kid Flash to whirl into a tornado, knocking Mister Twister into Superboy, who thrust his fists through the supervillain's body several times and knocking him into the bay, where Aqualad awaited. Penny didn't need to see underwater to know what happen next; an explosion threw Twister back out of the water and into the waiting telekinetic hold of Miss Martian, who blew the remaining arm off his metal body before allowing Robin to throw a couple of explosive birdarangs(or whatever they're called) at him as well.

The bioship flew closer to the land and Penny jumped out, watching as the defeated android sat on his knees...and his chest opened up, revealing a chambering unpenetrated by Superboy's fists in which there was a man with brown hair. _How is he not bruised? They tossed him around way too much for him to look as unaffected as that._

"Foul-I-I call foul," the guy whined, laying on his belly in his horrid green suit. Penny walked up to the group, ignoring the looks the boys were sending her way, and furrowed her eyebrows as Miss Martian lifted up a big rock, sending it right on top of 'Mister Twister'.

"M'gann, no!" Aqualad cried, reaching to stop her, but he was too late. Penny only slightly winced at the sight of the man's arm splaying out from under the rock. _Still doesn't look bruised. The arm is too stiff, it should be laying limp. And then there's the metallic crunch I just heard; no blood either._

"Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't _execute_ our captives," Robin was hissing.

"You said you trust me," Miss Martian replied simply. Penny backed away as she lifted the boulder to show a completely smashed android. _Well that explains it._ Kid Flash loitered over to where one of his eyeballs was laying on the ground.

"Souvenir," he claimed.

Everyone ignored him, and Aqualad said to Miss Martian, "we should have had more faith in you."

"Yeah, you rocked this mission," Kid Flash tried a pun, "get it, _rocked_?"

Penny ignored the conversation and scrutinized the head of the smashed robot. One eye was still in place, and its pupil was glowing red, focusing on the interaction happening in its line of sight. Penny knelt down to look at it more closely, but it suddenly sparked, then burst to a million pieces in a spout of smoke that swiftly fizzed out as the team of young superheroes turned their attention to Penny. And the exploding eyeball, of course.

"What was that?" Robin asked, eyeing the now-empty socket with suspicion.

A video camera, Penny signed. Much to her surprise, Robin answered.

"Really? So it self-destructed?" He asked. Penny nodded. At least _one_ member of the team would be able to communicate quickly with her should they cross paths again. He _hmmmed_ , and Penny figured her work there was done, turning around in search of her abandoned sunglasses.

"Wait!' Miss Martian cried out, motivating Penny to pause and look back. "Come with us to the cave."

What? Why? Penny signed so that Robin could translate. Or, just answer her directly, as he did.

"You obviously came for a reason. Were you fighting Mister Twister earlier?" he questioned.

Only a little bit. When you guys were knocked out.

"Then Batman might want to ask you a few things," he said, like it was completely normal for Batman to ask someone a 'few things'. The rest of the group looked like they were trying to find out what Penny was saying based on Robin's replies. Penny shrugged. Her sunglasses could wait.

 **OnnothedreadedlinebreakythingagainisntthischapterlongIsortasplitthembadlyandstufffffffffff**

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Aqualad said in his deep voice to the real Red Tornado, who, like Penny and the rest of the young heroes, was contemplating the mashed up form of the android from inside Mister Twister.

"Agreed," Red Tornado, well, agreed.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" Miss Martian said. She had called Red Tornado on the way to helping the boys, in case their strategy didn't go as planned, but he had denied.

"No. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve _mine_ for _me_."

"But- if you're in danger…" Miss Martian protested.

"Consider this matter closed." And with that, Red Tornado walked away.

"Batman, Aquaman and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things," Kid Flash scowled.

Robin then commented, "guess if we're going to have a babysitter, then a heartless machine is _exactly_ what we need."

" _Dude_! _Harsh_!"

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado responded, still walking away, "I have a heart. Carbon steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

Robin let out a nervous laugh, "ah-hah, right. Sorry. I'll strive to be...more accurate."

" _And_ more respectful," Aqualad said, placing a hand on Robin's shoulder.

 _Recognized: Batman, B-0-2_

"And here's your interrogator- Glance, was it?" Robin said as the dark knight stepped through, no emotion on his face whatsoever. _Ah, joy. This could end up interesting._

"Glance," Batman said flatly. Penny sort of expected him to cross his arms, but he didn't. "I imagine your vacation did not go as planned."

 _Wait, what?_ Penny shook her head in a 'no', while on the inside she was freaking out. _Okay, Batman is a stalker or something._

He continued, "However, you could contribute to the team. Are you willing to join?"

 _That wasn't a few questions- that was_ one _! And what's this about joining the_ proteges _of the_ Justice League _?!_ Batman waited patiently(or grumpily, they both looked the same) as Penny struck indecision. _Okay, don't hold up a famous hero. You're homeschooled and have plenty of time on your hands. Too much time on your hands. Just choose yes!_ Penny nodded. Batman, uh, did something. Like, he sort of shrugged, but it looked like he wasn't nodding back, but he was still accepting her answer.

"Welcome to the team."

And Penny surveyed the excited Miss Martian, the grinning Robin, the smirking Kid Flash, the smiling Aqualad, and the expressionless Superboy.

 _For_ sure _, this could end up interesting._

ooooooooooooooo

Next chapter should be a getting to know the team chapter…but how in the world am I supposed to write that? Insert conjunction/transition here , and don't forget that comma! I probably could have come up with a better nickname for Superboy other than 'Superman Symbol'.

I feel like Penny's interaction with the team is a little off for the most part. I'll make her interact more, but I guess the storyline of Welcome to Happy Harbor was mostly just her 'spy' element, watching but not engaging much.

And Robin knows sign language because, well, he's a Bat. Plus, I feel like it would be useful with him and Batman to communicate silently. He might have used sign language in Young Justice season 2 with the newer Robin and Batgirl, but I don't remember if he did. Did I get the designation/computer/recognized thingy correct? I know Batman is 02, but I don't really know if it's b-0-2 or something else.


	4. A Morning in the Cave

**DISCLAIMER: hey-o, I'm S.B.H! Does S.B.H own Young Justice, or anything associated with it? I think NOT.**

ooooooooooooo

Penny had a week to spend for her vacation, and naturally, it didn't go as planned.

In some ways, it could be said that it went better.

"Hey, Glance!" someone shouted faintly from outside her rented cabin's door. Penny let out a groan and peeled the pillow off her face. The sheets were kicked clear off the bed already, and she was dressed in remarkably dirty clothes, not having bothered to put on her pajamas when spending a few hours attempting to fix her invisibility belt after returning from a tour of the cave last night.

Oh, right.

Penny unceremoniously rolled off the small bed, stumbling into a stand and let out a shrill, hasty, and pretty pathetic whistle to signify that she was up to whichever of the team was currently pounding at the door. She pulled on some fresh clothes similar to the ones she was already wearing and wrenched open the door to reveal Miss Martian beaming at her. The martian's smile faltered slightly, her eyes pointed above Penny's eyes.

"What happened to your hair?"

 _What? It can't possibly be that bad,_ Penny thought, holding her hand up to Miss Martian for a second and scooting over to the lone mirror in the hallway. Staring back at Penny was a girl: fair skin, light sprinkling of freckles, honey-brown eyes...and extremely disheveled, tangled, tossed-everywhere dark brown, wavy, hair.

 _It_ is _that bad._

So, Penny doused it in water from the bathroom sink. Much wetter and flatter, but better. She returned to Miss Martian, who giggled at her slightly improved hairdo.

"Come on," Miss Martian encouraged, "We still don't really know you, and that tour of the cave wasn't long."

 _But it's like, 6:00 am!_ Penny knew she was just being lazy. It came with being homeschooled.

Okay, she signed, figuring that Miss Martian would eventually learn some of her motion's meanings, and joined her on the boardwalk right outside her house. The bioship was parked there rather casually, and Penny resisted the urge to search every nook and cranny of the area for civilians. Miss Martian would have taken the proper precautions-right? Climbing onto the unique ship, Penny took the quarter minute of silence to enjoy the scene of Happy Harbor's quaint town from above before they entered Mount Justice.

The hangar was eerily lifeless when they unboarded the martian ship, and Penny was convinced no one was there, until Miss Martian led her up to the lounge, where Superboy sat watching a staticky television. Okay, not entirely deserted. Superboy showed no signs of noticing nor of acknowledging their presence. But might as well be.

"I didn't burn the cookies this time," Miss Martian declared happily, snapping Penny out of the cave's quiet atmosphere, and pulling out from the oven a tray of golden brown, chocolate-chipped, heaven.

Cookies for breakfast?

Two minutes later a very content pair of girls sat at the dining table scarfing down the tasty treats.

 **Recognized: Kid Flash, B-0-3**

And the last of the cookies disappeared in a rush of wind. Which made Penny slightly annoyed, but after all, Kid Flash was a speedster, and it wasn't like it was very possible for her and Miss Martian to have finished off the tray by themselves unless they wanted a stomachache.

"Helloooo beautiful!" Kid Flash spouted, reappearing beside Miss Martian.

"Hello Wally," Miss Martian replied brightly, oblivious to his flirting manner. _Wally? Must be his secret identity; didn't know we were all on a first-name basis, though._

"So Glance," he drawled, pausing to gulp down the last cookie, "why do you think Batman would want you on the team? And why's your hair wet?"

I don't know. Could be for a number of reasons: my powers, my experience. This team is covert, right? Could be because of that. I'm practically a spy, after all, Penny signed casually. Leaving out the part about her hair.

The look on Kid Flash's face was priceless. He had absolutely no idea what she had just said, and Miss Martian just watched with an amused expression. Penny decided to simplify it for him.

She shrugged.

"Oh, okay," Kid Flash resolved, "hey, Miss M, any cookies left?"

…

 _A half-chocolate-chip, half-regular batch?_ Penny suggested in the temporary mind-link.

"Yep," Miss Martian consented. Penny proceeded to sprinkle the chocolate over a portion of the cookies.

"Cookies again?" someone said, and Penny saw Robin popping his head into the kitchen out of the corner of her eye.

"Wally ate the last batch," Miss Martian supplied. The sunglasses-wearing boy let out a sigh of understanding and disappeared.

When did Robin enter the cave? I didn't hear the computer announce his arrival.

"I don't know," Miss Martian said, levitating the tray into the oven and setting the timer, "maybe he came in while I was getting you."

A moment of silence.

 _Pretty quiet when there isn't anything going on here, huh?_

"Yes," Miss Martian replied. She let the soundless veil fall again.

Penny didn't like silence. She was constantly dealing with it, and she no longer relished the peaceful sense that often accompanied it, preferring instead to hang out in places frequented by groups of chattering people. Silence signified something was going to happen- or already did happen.

But really, any noise could mean a number of things.

 **Recognized: Aqualad, B-0-2** *

"Hey Aqualad!" Kid Flash called from wherever he was.

"Hello, Kid Flash," came the reply.

Somebody let out a cackle, and suddenly Robin was standing next to Aqualad and Kid Flash, all of them, including Superboy(but he was sitting on the couches), gathered around the television.

"So, combat training?" Robin requested, and Aqualad nodded his head in approval. "Let's do this!"

…

Penny emerged into the training room clad in her combat suit(without the invisibility part of the belt). It was rather plain, and she figured that someday she would spruce it up a bit should she ever think about it again.

Robin was already in the area of light that was where they would be sparring. Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Aqualad were at the sidelines. Penny could hear Kid Flash trying to make bets with Aqualad, but the speedster was ignored. Penny stepped into the area and double-checked that nothing was in her belt for the fight.

"You may proceed with the battle," Aqualad said, and they were off.

Sort of. Neither of them moved.

Robin was the first to do anything, suddenly rushing at Penny with quick steps, dipping into a handstand which turned into a spring over her head. She considered making a grab for his legs, but he was already heading into a roll and she might miss and leave an opportunity for the acrobatic boy to knock her legs out from under her, which he was about to do anyways as he landed, because he would be trying to cushion his landing, and would do a low attack...Penny backed away quickly enough that Robin missed.

She was already getting the hang of his style(not surprising, given her power), and was dodging each attack he sent her way, returning with a few jabs of her own.

 _I can keep this up for a long time, but that wouldn't be very useful. He's probably more resourceful than I am, too, so I need to act before he does something different and surprises me._

Making her decision, Penny took the most recent kick to her chest deliberately, improvising by grabbing onto the offending limb as she stumbled backwards to absorb the damage and yanked his leg- hard. She landed a back-handspring from the momentum and swiftly swept his remaining leg out from under him as he was regaining balance, resulting in him promptly falling onto his back.

A second later, Kid Flash was gagging on his popcorn(they had popcorn at the cave?). "Dude! How'd you lose?"

Penny offered Robin her hand, and he accepted it, grinning. As she hauled him back up he replied, "don't know. Care to share?"

And ruin the surprise? I think not, Penny signed, smiling back at the boy wonder and winking, besides, it's not that hard to figure out. Nothing special, either.

She stepped back as Kaldur and Kid Flash took the stage, and mulled over her minute(or two) against Robin. He was skilled and clearly an aerialist, that last part at least partially. But enough of that; she needed to figure out how this team thing would work out(not that hard, right? She had plenty of free time), and why in the world Batman would want her to be on it.

oooooooo

 ***Ha! Batman would be Recognized: Batman, 0-2, without the 'B', so I did sorta get it wrong in the previous chapter...oh well. Mistake caught, and all, I shall strive to be more accurate ;)!**

 **This takes place a few days before YJ episode "Drop-Zone", which is only a couple of days after the Mister Twister fiasco anyways.**

 **Were you guys angry that Penny won the spar? Maybe I should have pitted her against Aqualad or someone. Oh well; if Robin had his gadgets, he probably would have won. Anyways, Penny/Glance is gonna be combat-based, so Robin gets smarts-based…?**

 **I don't think they really bonded or anything in this one. So, ultimate fail? Okay? Amazing(yeah, as if!)?**


	5. Drop Zone P1

**Disclaimer: you know the drill.**

 **Hey, I know that Robin is really good, but I'm pretty sure I mentioned in the AN at the top of Chapter 2 (Welcome to Happy Harbor part 1) that due to her power she can copy anybody's fighting moves** _ **flawlessly**_ **. Granted, I should have made Robin change his fighting style before she could act…**

 **And (extra) to be fair, knocking someone off their feet isn't exactly winning, either. She didn't knock Robin out or anything :D**

ooooooooooo

"We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian announced. Penny shifted in her seat and gazed out the window. The bioship was unnaturally hushed. She took a moment to reflect on how they ended up in this noiseless position.

" _Isla Santa Prisca," Batman started. Santa Prisca Island would be the translation, but it didn't sound nearly as cool as the native way to say it. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and_ illegal _neurosteroid. A strength enhancing drug, sold under the street name 'Venom.'_

" _Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity," he continued. Where was this leading? "But all shipments of Venom have inexplicably been cut off. That's where this team comes in."_

 _Batman moved to confront the team and emphasize his next point, "This is a_ covert _recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will._

" _The plan requires two drop zones-"_

" _So who's in charge?" Robin asked. Penny watched with interest as Batman and Red Tornado shared looks._

" _Work that out between you," Batman stated simply. Robin gave a nod and a smile…_

"Drop-zone A in 30," Miss Martian announced. Penny snapped out of her thoughts as Aqualad(or Kaldur, as he insisted outside of missions) got into stealth mode, his red outfit turning a dark grey. She could _feel_ the team, each maintaining a stoic expression, prepared, professional.

They wanted to impress the League(or just Batman) on their first official mission.

So did Penny.

"Ready," Aqualad replied.

"Putting bioship in camouflage mode," Miss Martian continued, and there was a faint sound as the ship did indeed turn invisible. A few moments later, Aqualad dove through the open hatch into the Caribbean. The team waited patiently until he reported in.

" **Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in** ," he said over the comms. Penny had half her mind to have a reckoning with whoever thought it would be a good idea for a mute girl to use a comm link, if said person hadn't been Batman.

The bioship floated over drop zone B, and the rest of the team, excluding Superboy and Penny(because her clothes were already stealthy), changed into stealth as well.

"Hey Supey!" Kid Flash started, "not too late to put on the new _stealth tech._ "

"No capes. No tights. No offense," Superboy growled back.

"It totally works for you," Miss Martian commented dreamily _,_ drawing Superboy's- and everyone else's- attention. _Well, I didn't see_ that _compliment coming._

"I-in that you can totally do good work in those clothes," she added hastily when she saw everyone looking at her. And gave Superboy a thumbs-up. She then tossed her hood over her head while turning invisible and jumped out of the aircraft, Penny activating her belt and followed her, along with Kid Flash and Robin.

Superboy landed immediately afterwards, with everyone just barely moving out of the way in time to avoid becoming part of the resulting crater.

"Knew I didn't need a line," Superboy said. He was referring to the lines that Robin, Kid Flash, and Penny had worn while leaving the bioship to avoid breaking their legs.

"And yet creating a _seismic event_ may not have helped us much with the covert!" Robin pointed out; with hand gestures for emphasis.

"Drop B is go," Miss Martian said, floating nearby and visible again. She must have been talking to Aqualad, because his voice crackled over the link as they gathered around Robin's holo-computer.

" **Head to the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous asap**."

"Roger that," Robin replied. Into the jungle they went.

…

"Did you hear that?" Superboy asked, stopping mid-trek. Penny paused alongside of him and listened. The occasional call of a bird and other sounds, but nothing outside of normal for the dense jungle.

"Uh, _no_ ," Kid Flash said, before thinking and continuing, "wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

 _Well obviously if he has enhanced hearing then he'll hear noises that we can't._

"You do have great ears," Miss Martian commented, again dreamily. _Okay, that was the weirdest compliment I've ever heard._ Penny resisted letting out a breathy laugh, and noticed the tip of a cape slipping behind the trees.

"Okay Rob, now what?" Kid Flash started before also realizing Robin's departure. "Man, I hate it when he does that!"

" **Superboy, Kid,** " Aqualad said over the link. " **Switch to infrared. See if you're being tracked.** "

At this point, Penny decided to gain some distance between her and the very noticeable, attackable, teenagers standing in the middle of a _clearing_. She wouldn't be much help if they were ambushed and someone hit the invisible girl just standing in the middle of into the undergrowth, she waited while the boys scanned the area.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," Kid Flash proclaimed. They hustled to a set of boulders, and Superboy corrected the speedster.

"Two squads. But they'll meet each other before they find us."

All them were startled when gunfire broke out.

"No super-hearing required now," Kid Flash said.

" **Swing wide, steer clear!"** Aqualad again.

"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob," he brushed off the command and began walking past the rocks. _What? No, wait! That is_ not _a smart thing to do!_ Too late. The speedster was already zooming away.

Penny rushed after him, closely followed by Miss Martian and Superboy. Crunching sounds came from the direction Kid Flash was as he slipped on the muddy path and tumbled down towards the gunfire.

Penny emerged into the gunfire, all hope of stealth lost(okay, all hope was lost only when her belt decides to stop working again). She delivered a solid punch to the nearest thug, knocking him clean off his feet, and did the same to as many others as she could before they finally noticed men were being punched by air, and withdrew into the woods as a few of the men in red robes swung their aim in her general direction.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Robin said, dropping from the trees and knocking out two goons who had been firing at Kid Flash. "Remember _covert_? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"

"That's what you were doing?" Kid Flash replied hotly, taking a few more out, "Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know."

Here, Penny jumped back out of the forest and kicked another thug down. Miss Martian flew past Kid Flash as if to deny his accusation, and he noticed.

"Er, I'm not, anyway."

"You told me I could only read the bad guy's minds," Miss Martian said indignantly.

Penny tuned out the conversation and caught sight of a retreating red robe-r. She gave chase, but Aqualad finally stepped out of the brush and shocked the poor guy in the chest before stomping on and crushing the gun he had dropped.

Penny deactivated her belt and leaned wearily against a tree for a moment, sharing a grim smile with Aqualad before helping him and the others tie up the two separate groups.

"I recognize those uniforms," Robin said assuredly, "they belong to the Cult of the Cobra."

"I am sure Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's venom operation," Aqualad mentioned gravely.

"Agreed. And since there's clearly no love lost between those cultists and those goons, I'm betting Cobra came in and tossed them out! _That_ 's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

'We get it," Kid Flash butted in, "Cobra wanted super-cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in-"

"-these cultists aren't on venom," Robin interrupted, "Cobra's hoarding this stuff. We don't leave. Not until I know why."

 _Not until_ you _know why?_

Kid Flash voiced Penny's thoughts, "until _you_ know why?"

"This team needs a leader," Robin defended.

"And it's you?"

Penny sighed quietly and viewed the dispute without really paying much attention to it. She scrutinized the jungle again, but when no immediate threat was found, returned to staring at her interesting muddy boots. She was broken out of her trance by coarse laughter, and her eyes snapped to the tree behind which Bane was tied. She walked around the trees to get a better look at the venom operator.

"Such clever ninos," Bane chuckled, "but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest. Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

 _Secret entrance? If he had a secret entrance to his factory, wouldn't he have used it by now?_

"There is a secret entrance," Miss Martian intervened, "but he's also hiding something."

Typical criminals.

"Uh-uh- _uh_ , chica," Bane said as she tried to pry deeper using her telepathic abilities, "Bane is not that easy."

"Ugh! He's mentally reciting football scores, _en espagnole_ ," she groaned, "this could take a while."

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend," said the supervillain.

Aqualad nodded his head after hardly a moment's hesitation, and Penny knew this relationship would be odd.

oooooo

 **Huh. That was a weird place to end it. Just for complaining's sake, I wrote half of this thing in about an hour and a half, so it may or may not seem rushed.**

 **Hope you enjoy! And also that you aren't reprimanding me for my lateness!**

 **And WOW! 31 followers so far(I'm more honored by favorites, but I'm fine with the higher number being follows)**


	6. Drop Zone P2

**Disclaimer: ...fine, I'll say it. I blahblahblah own not blah Young Justice blahblahblah or stuff you blahblah might recognize blah outside of this story blahblah**

oooooooooo

Bane took them to a cliff overlooking the warehouse. Robin pulled a pair of binoculars and stood near the edge, Kid Flash right next to him. Penny felt the drive to glare at Bane, especially since he could easily push them over the steep cliff, but settled for a huff and staying away from the drop.

"Look at all that product," Robin whispered, still watching the operation. The rest of the team went to get a better look, since they didn't have binoculars, but Penny remained slightly behind and to the side of Bane. "Something is going down."

Bane turned away from the oglers and nearly bumped into Penny, who really did send him a glare this time, albeit halfheartedly, and followed him. He didn't say anything, but acknowledged her presence and clearly wasn't trying to escape or do anything crazy, instead heaving a large boulder away from a hill to reveal a gaping hole. It looked like a mine, with lanterns hanging from wooden support beams and well-churned dirt lining the floor

"Answers," he said smugly, "are this way," before starting the trek into the tunnel, the team following.

"So, now el luchador is our leader," Kid Flash complained. Robin smacked the speedster and took the lead, while Penny trailed alongside Miss Martian in the back. The tunnel was really long.

Nobody said a word until Bane reached a control panel and pressed a red button to open the solid metal doors in front of them.

"All clear," Robin said, and without warning disappeared out the next door.

Great, Penny motioned to nobody. There goes the only person here who understands sign language.

"Has the little fool already been caught?" Bane asked when they entered the large room and no boy wonder was to be found.

"No," Aqualad replied wearily, "he just does that."

"Stay put!" Kid Flash interjected, "I'll get our intel and be back before the boy wonder!"

He zoomed off as Aqualad called out, "Wait, Kid!"

Penny face-palmed.

"Great chain of command," Bane remarked.

No kidding, Penny signed, taking a few steps forward into the vast space, glancing behind herself as the rest of the team (plus one villain) followed suit. Aqualad quickly took the lead, and as they walked cautiously to the other side, Penny gradually lagged to the back of the group.

"Like to keep an eye on things, eh chica?" asked Bane. He looked at her while still walking forwards, and Penny contemplated the chances of him tripping. Some intimidation criminal he would be then, sprawled across the floor…

Penny shrugged in response to his query before he could notice that her eyes had flickered down to his feet.

"Don't talk much, either?"

 _Not at all_ , Penny thought with a shake of her head.

Aqualad cut another of Bane's questions off, saying, "over there," and pointing to an opening to the outside where it looked like stuff was happening. Like, important stuff.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad whispered. They crouched behind some crates, Bane standing up behind some stacked ones. The cultists were working efficiently to move tons of crates containing Venom using forklifts.

"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line," Superboy added before referring to the crates the team were hiding behind, "they're not touching this Venom."

"Maybe...freshness counts?" Miss Martian proposed. No one looked convinced of the suggestion. _Really? I don't know anything about Venom, but if they're dubious, I might as well be, too._

"Helicopter's coming," Superboy announced. Everyone snapped their attention to the sky, where sure enough, a helicopter approached slowly. It landed within a minute of Superboy spotting it(or hearing it, who knows), but out of sight. Miss Martian flew out(with Aqualad's consent) to get a view of the situation.

The rest of them headed up a set of stairs and perched on an overhead walkway. Penny reactivated her belt just to be safe.

"Sportsmaster," Aqualad said suddenly. Miss Martian must contacted him.

"He is the buyer. Aqualad to Red Tornado," he continued, activating the comm in his ear, "do you read?"

He waited for a moment, and apprehension crawled into the air as they waited.

"Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid," the atlantean yielded. "Comm's jammed. We need a plan. Now."

 _So we didn't already have one? How convenient for the bad guys_. Penny shifted her weight uneasily just as Bane spoke up.

"I have a suggestion," he smirked. How come he always looked like he was up to something?

The supervillain jumped over the railings and dropped to the ground currently patrolled by Kobra cultists. Gunfire erupted.

That answers that.

"What is he-" Aqualad started, before being cut off by the sound of a roar. As the glass behind them broke, Penny just barely threw herself out of the way, dragging Aqualad with her, and a monster of a man landed on the walkway. Penny latched onto the railing as the whole thing split apart and tilted downwards but easily lost her grip as it fell, resorting to landing on the ground in a crouch, which hurt. But it wasn't that far of a drop so she didn't break anything.

When she looked up, Aqualad and Superboy(Bane was behind her) were facing the monster, which basically looked like some guy got so beefed up that his skin started to split. Literally, slashes of muscle were showing. Ew. Behind him, half a dozen red-robed goons had gathered, with their leader and a rather punk-looking girl in the center.

"Destroy them!" Kobra commanded.

The guy who Penny guessed was pumped with some variant of Venom charged them without hesitation. Superboy intercepted him, and they started to wrestle. Cultists advanced around them and started to shoot at Aqualad.

 _This is one time I'm glad I have an invisibility belt_ , Penny thought, sprinting around the people with guns and aiming for the thugs behind Superboy's wrestling match. The first guy went down without a sound to a kick in the stomach followed by a quick punch to the jaw, and the one next to him was rather bewildered at the sudden attack, allowing for another easy knockout. After that, Miss Martian started taking out the increasing number of henchmen and Penny had to be more careful of errant gunfire.

Something exploded above Penny, and she looked up just in time to see a slight shimmering in the air be tossed to the side. _Miss Martian! How was she seen_ \- Superboy and his opponent nearly trampled Penny, and she had to jump out of the way. A spear landed right where she had previously been. She only had one confused second to stumble backwards as the weapon beeped, and then the thing exploded, sending her sailing onto her back. Before she could move, a stray bullet clipped the central device on her belt. That combined with the damage of the explosion rendered her visible.

 _Not fair, no bullet is aimed that low to the ground! And I just fixed the dumb device, anyways!_

 _Everyone online?_ came Miss Martian's voice over the newly established mindlink.

 _Yeah_ , Superboy said grudgingly. Penny dodged a hail of bullets and had time to knock only one goon down before another wave came.

 _You know it, beautiful_ , Kid Flash. Penny glanced in the direction they were, assessing her options. She was too busy evading gunfire to be able to make a run for it...

 _Good, we need-_ Aqualad started before Penny cut him off.

 _Great, now I can talk. Care to aid someone trying to dodge bullets?_ She requested.

 _Oh, so that's what your voice sounds like_ , Kid Flash answered. A second later, she was whipped behind the pillars he and Aqualad were taking cover behind.

 _Uh-huh_ , Penny replied sarcastically. _like I still think in the voice I used to have after not being able to hear it for years._

 _Robin, now!_ Aqualad said. Penny must have missed part of the conversation. Aqualad jumped back into the fray and brought up his water shield again. _We need to retreat. Kid, clear a path!_

Kid Flash obliged, rushing out and knocking the thugs out like they were bowling pins. Penny ran after him and caught up to Aqualad. She could hear Miss Martian and Robin following as she skidded into the door that lead into the tunnel. Bane had long since disappeared.

Penny ran down the long tunnel and soon Aqualad and Superboy turned into it as well, having locked the door behind them. Miss Martian, Robin, and Kid Flash weren't far ahead, but as Penny reached them, the Venomed monster bust through the door and ran after them. Cultists breached the area as well and started shooting again.

"Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad pointed out. The kryptonian took no time in destroying them, and the whole place started to collapse. Penny ran faster to avoid being buried, but the cave-in stopped before it could reach them.

Aqualad cracked a glow stick, and red light softly flooded the area.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" said Robin, gazing at the pile of debris keeping their pursuers out.

"You do have the most experience," Aqualad supplied, "but perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are...defined."

Penny leaned against the wall. No one else was moving, but her action went unnoticed. Aqualad continued,"you two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear. Explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so _I'm_ supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin burst out. He calmed down just as quickly as he had angered, "ugh, who am I kidding."

He looked at Aqualad, "you should lead us Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

"Please, I can run circles-" Kid Flash interjected.

"Wally, come on!" Robin interrupted, "you know he's the one. We all do."

"Hello, Megan!" Miss Martian said, "It's so obvious!"

"Could'a told ya," Superboy agreed.

 _What he said,_ Penny joined in, jabbing a finger in Superboy's direction. Everyone looked expectantly at Kid Flash.

"Okay," the speedster gave in brightly.

Aqualad walked up to Robin, "then I accept the burden. Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon."

"Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island," he said, changing topic.

"Funny. I had the same thought," came Robin's contribution.

…..

"Sportsmaster's the supplier-slash-buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," Robin informed them as they travelled the tunnel.

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom," Kid Flash said. "That took some major nerdage."

"I believe the expression is: tip of the iceberg," Aqualad said. They had reached the end of the tunnel at this time, and were just about to exit into the forest when Bane appeared, blocking the way and holding something in his hand.

"Halt, ninos," he said. The thing he was holding.. _.is that a bomb trigger?_ "I'm feeling explosive."

 _Of course it's a bomb trigger._ Said bombs let out a beep above the team to happily announce that they were active and ready to explode.

"You betrayed us," Aqualad said, "why?"

"I want my factory back," Bane revealed.

 _Kid, you'll need a running start_ , Aqualad recommended.

"-so I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies," Bane obliviously continued as Kid Flash backed up. "Or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside-"

He raised his thumb over the button.

"Should have the same effect."

The thumb came down.

"With what," Kid Flash said, leaning casually against a tree holding the device, "this trigger-thingy?"

"Argh!" Bane yelled, throwing a punch at the speedster only to be dragged into the air by Miss Martian's telekinesis, where she held him.

"Finally," Superboy smiled threateningly. "Drop him."

…..

Kid Flash barreled into the goons at full force, successfully interrupting the exchange between Kobra and Sportsmaster. Superboy landed forcefully, knocking down several more cultists, and confronted the cobra-venom-enhanced monster, only for Aqualad to pummel the guy with water.

Penny followed Robin to Kobra, and the boy wonder got Shimmer tied up from one of his birdarangs while she was distracted by Kid Flash claiming another souvenir from a nearby cultist.

"I know you hate getting your hands dirty," Robin started. Penny stayed tensed next to him, ready for the attack.

"True," Kobra replied, pulling his hood and cape off to reveal a very well-built body. "But sometimes, even a god must stoop to conquer."

Robin rushed the cult leader, and Penny followed. He tried a kick to the chest, but Kobra caught his knee and tossed him down, and Penny used this opening to attempt a kick to the head while Robin sweeped his feet. Kobra caught Penny's foot and clenched it hard, slinging her into the wall before she could act, with an extra kick to boost her flight.

Thump. _Ow. Did something just crack?_

"What's wrong, boy?" she heard through the immense haze. _Uhhh~ how hard was I hit?_ "You look disconcerted."

By the time Penny recovered, Robin was fighting Kobra again. The ground rocked under her feet, and the warehouse burst into flames.

Robin got knocked aside again and Kobra stepped on his chest. Penny shoved herself off the wall and threw herself at Kobra, managing to dodge his first punch but was kicked away(mostly) because of her dizziness before she could punch or slam him off of Robin.

"I am plagued by mosquitoes!" Kobra insisted.

"Good," wheezed Robin, "cause this mosquito's mighty concerted over your pain."

Penny picked herself off the ground as Robin escaped the hold, while the rest of the team gathered beside them.

"Another time then," Kobra said, suddenly backing into the shadows of the woods. Robin searched after him, but came back out empty-handed.

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin complemented, before doing a one-eighty with his tone of voice, "automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman."

Evil laughter followed.

 _Kaldur, man, I pity you,_ Penny told Aqualad.

….

"A simple recon mission," Batman was saying, his face looming over Aqualad's. Oh, joy. "Observe, and report.

"You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes," Batman continued, marching down the line they all stood to attention at. "Until then...

"Good job."

 _What?_

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," Batman spoke again, "how you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads…determines character."

And with that, he left.

ooooooooooooooo

 **There you go! Tried to make Penny/Glance more involved, and I think I succeeded. Great reviews you guys!**


	7. Infiltrator P1

**Disclaimer: Iay oday otnay wnoay oungyay usticejay - or for those who don't know Pig Latin: I do not own Young Justice**

 **Do I need to mention her powers again? I guess I will, for Ouat-in-vampirediaries** ' **s sake:** Adoptive muscle memory, the power to replicate movement after observation

 **PS I may or may not have skipped 'Schooled'...so sue me**

 **oooooooooooooo**

"I don't believe it!" Robin exclaimed. He and Penny were conversing in the lounge. " _That's_ why you weren't on our last mission? You got _grounded?!_ "

That's what I just said, Penny signed with a flat face, 100% regretting telling him it in the first place. Besides, I guess I deserved it. My grandparents weren't happy I joined a team of super-powered teenagers without asking them first, _and_ then I never contacted them the whole week I was at Happy Harbor.

"Still," Robin cackled, "you're what, sixteen? And isn't over two weeks a long time for that?"

If you count the numerous other escapades and 'vacation's that I've spent without permission, you might say I had it coming. _This whole conversation is embarrassing. Why didn't I just say I got held up?_ On the bright side, I did learn how to make a mean lasagna.

"You should teach M'gann how," Robin thought aloud. "Hold on a sec, I'm gonna check something out. By the way, you missed an entire beach day."

He promptly turned on his heels and headed upstairs to the training room, leaving a rather thankful 16-year-old. Penny snorted at Robin's sudden departure, realizing that it would be a while until she understood him.

 **Recognized: Kid Flash, B-0-3**

A clattering sound announced something crashing.

 _Okay, here's to betting that Kid Flash tripped; I have_ so _got to see this._ Penny practically flew up the stairs, met by a beach ball tapering its bouncing to a halt, all of the team assembled along with Red Tornado, Batman, Green Arrow, and a girl Penny didn't recognize. They all faced Wally, who was lying unceremoniously in civvies on the ground, beach supplies strewn everywhere, and in the middle of saying something.

"-ted," the speedster finished.

"Wall-man, huh?" the girl said. She was dressed in a green outfit similar to Green Arrow's. _I didn't know Green Arrow had a new protege. Then again, getting grounded does that to you._ "I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"

Penny blinked and walked up behind the girl, staying at the fringe of the gathered superheroes and standing next to Green Arrow with a questioning glance, which he ignored.

"Uh, who's this?" Wally asked, addressing Aqualad.

"Artemis, your new teammate," the girl replied. Penny raised her eyebrow at Robin, who shrugged. Artemis took no notice of his action, unaware of Penny and her attention on Wally.

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you," he said.

"Uh, she's my new protege," Green Arrow said, stepping forward to place his hand on the archer's shoulder.

"What happened to your old one?" Wally said indignantly.

 **Recognized: Speedy, B-0-6**

"Well for starters, he doesn't go by 'Speedy' anymore," said the oh-so-famous previous partner to Green Arrow as he walked in. The team hadn't been kidding when they told Penny he had gone solo; his costume was completely different. "Call me Red Arrow."

"Roy, you look-" started his former mentor.

"-replaceable," Red Arrow interrupted coldly, eyeing Artemis with distaste. His eyes flickered to Penny for a moment, but didn't hold. Penny was really enjoying not being the most noticeable thing on the planet right now.

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo," Green Arrow defended. _So he recruited someone else? That isn't the right way to go if he wants to maintain what little relationship he still has-or had-with Spee-Red Arrow._

"So why waste time finding a sub?" Red Arrow shot back, "can she even _use_ that bow?"

Artemis stormed two steps forward, nose to nose with the former sidekick. "Yes, she can."

"Who even _are_ you?" Kid Flash butted in again.

"I'm his-"

"-She's my-"

"-niece," Artemis and Green Arrow said simultaneously. _And here we have it! Proof that these two excellent archers are of one like mind! *snort*_

"Another niece?" Robin commented.

"But she is not your replacement," Aqualad spoke up, keeping a level gaze at Red Arrow. "We have always wanted you on the team. And we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you _know_ who we'd pick," Kid Flash piped in.

"Whatever Baywatch," Artemis said. _Woah, where'd_ that _nickname come from?_ "I'm here to stay."

"You came to us for a reason," Aqualad pointed out, changing topics. Always the one to get down to business, wasn't he? At least Penny had something to be interested in about other than rivalry.

"Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," Red Arrow answered, seemingly unhindered by the topic shift.

Robin suddenly brought up his holo-computer, "a nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City! Vanished, two weeks ago."

"Abducted two weeks ago, by the League of Shadows," Red Arrow corrected. _So what, we're rescuing her? And wait, the League of Shadows?_

"Woah," Robin began, echoing Penny's thoughts, "you want us to rescue her from the Shadows?"

"Hardcore," Wally added, fist-bumping his friend.

"I already rescued her," Red Arrow said casually, crushing any and all dreams of toe-to-toe assassin combat. "Only one problem: the Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the Fog; comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrator capable of disintegrating anything in their path."

Red Arrows voice was gradually getting lower. "Concrete. Steel. Flesh. Bone."

 _Ewww. Definitely a weapon._

"But it's true purpose isn't mere destruction," the archer continued. "It's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from _any_ computer system. And deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech."

So, bad. Penny signed to no one in particular, though she did know that Robin saw it.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-broking…" Artemis listed, sounding like she knew exactly what she was talking about, "yeah, sounds like the Shadows."

"Like you know _anything_ about the Shadows," Kid Flash said. Artemis sent a smug smile his way. _They aren't going to get along very well, are they?_ "Who _are_ you!?"

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the Fog inert," Red Arrow ignored Kid Flash's small shout.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that-" started Robin.

"-They'll target her," Green Arrow's former protege finished. "Right now she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked in disbelief.

Red Arrow returned, "she's safe enough for now."

"Then let's you and I keep her that way."

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protege?"

Green Arrow walked forward, but was instantly stopped by Batman's hand on his shoulder. Green Arrow said, "you brought this to the team. It's their mission. Which means it's her's now too."

"Sst," Red Arrow scoffed, "then my job's done."

He walked towards the zeta-tube and it announced his departure(as he corrected it to Red Arrow instead of Speedy).

Well, Penny remarked, that was rather tense.

….

 _[Everyone online?]_ Miss Martian's voice came through a newly established mindlink.

 _[Uh, this is weird,]_ Artemis said-er, thought.

 _[And distracting. Coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough,]_ Dr. Roquette took a very slight pause in her complaint, _[now I have to hear_ teen think _in my skull?!]_

 _[Well I like it,]_ Penny sniffed from her corner of the room.

Kid Flash took a large bite out of what Penny guessed was a chocolate bar, _[Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?]_

 _[Pot, Kettle,]_ Artemis noted, _[have you met?]_

 _[Hey- I do_ not _need_ attitude _from the_ newbie _that drove Red Arrow off the team!]_

Artemis jumped off the desk where she had been sitting next to Roquette, surprising the scientist, _[That is so not on me!]_

 _[Hey! We're on a mission, at least_ try _to act professional,]_ Penny said.

 _[She started it,]_ Kid Flash defended childishly.

Artemis walked towards the door and huffed, [ _How about I just just help Superboy and Miss Martian patrol the perimeter?]_

 _[Good idea,]_ Aqualad watched her leave.

As soon as she was gone, Robin told Kid Flash, _[You might cut her some slack. It_ was _her arrow that saved your butt against AMAZO.]_

Dr. Roquette looked really annoyed by now.

 _[What? No! That was Speedy's-I mean, Red Arrow's...arrow, right?]_ Kid Flash responded.

 _[Mmmm...not so much.]_

 _[Uh, well, still not giving her the satisfaction,]_ Kid Flash pouted.

 _[You know, I can still hear you!]_ came Artemis's voice. Kid Flash groaned.

[ _I couldn't get the Justice League,]_ Dr. Roquette also expressed her annoyance.

Then there was a small exchange between Dr. Roquette and Aqualad that Penny miraculously didn't pay much attention to, despite it literally taking up the space in her head she normally used for thinking. Although, she did catch mentions of assassins being able to track where they were.

After a minute of silence, Artemis's voice again echoed in Penny's head: _[mmm, that boy…]_

Then Miss Martian's, jealously: _[he can hear you. We can_ all _hear you.]_

 _[Oh, I know,]_ Artemis said again. Penny knew she must be talking about Superboy, since he was the only boy not in the room with Penny, but out with the other two girls.

 _[Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the fog,]_ Aqualad informed the martian, _[reconfigure the bioship so Robin and Superboy can pursue.]_

Robin immediately left the room. Miss Martian gave a 'right' in confirmation. After a few seconds, Kid Flash exited as well and stood right outside one of the doors. Another minute passed, then Miss Martian began confronting Artemis about her flirting.

Penny heard the squeaking of Kid Flash's shoes as he ran lightly down the halls. _Did he see something?_ Penny hesitated, then left Aqualad with Dr. Roquette to investigate.

A small yelp came from the direction Kid Flash had been going, and Penny's hasty walk turned into a full out sprint as she burst into the indoor swimming pool's area. The speedster was floating face-down in the pool, and she didn't hesitate to dive in instead of walking around the pool to the side he was closest to.

 _Please don't be dead,_ Penny thought as she dragged him out of the pool. His pulse was fine, and he didn't seem to have inhaled any water; he must have been in there for only a few moments before she found him. Penny glanced at the beads lining the floor and contacted the team, _[Aqualad, someone dumped Kid Flash in the pool! Be ready!]_

There was a pause, and Penny feared that she shouldn't have left Dr. Roquette with only the atlantean until he responded, _[Acknowledged, Glance. I believe he or she just put a shuriken in my chest.]_

 _[What?!]_

Penny raced back to the room to find a lithe form dressed in dark green approaching Aqualad, holding a sai in each hand. Before Penny could do anything, the assassin was jumping at Aqualad, who formed swords out of water to block her attack.

"And my shuriken are quite poisonous," she said, obviously responding to an earlier comment made by Aqualad. He kicked her off, and she did a tight backflip, landing next to Penny, who immediately positioned herself to block any attack.

"Who do I have here?" the assassin inquired, thrusting one of her small swords at Penny, who easily dodged. _I'm lucky I got those two seconds of watching her fight, otherwise I might have been skewered just then._

Her opponent jabbed towards her stomach, and Penny smacked that hand down, simultaneously grabbing the assasin's wrist with her other hand when she aimed at Penny's head with her remaining hand. The assassin then tried to knock the teenager's feet out from under her, but Penny pushed off the ground and flipped over her opponent just in time, letting go of both her hands in the process. The Shadow used that moment as an opportunity to hurl a sai at Dr. Roquette, but it was blocked by Aqualad.

Again the assassin rushed Aqualad, dodged, and tried to hurl her remaining sai at Dr. Roquette, but an arrow from Artemis knocked it out of her hand.

Penny figured Miss Martian was close behind, and prepared herself to keep fighting.

ooooooooooooooooo

 **Sorry I ended it there, but the chapter was getting pretty long(for me) and I wanted to keep up my (practically) weekly streak.**

 **Good reading- Silver out.**


	8. Infiltrator P2

**Anyone notice that at about 15:26 in this episode Black Spider gives Kid Flash a rather friendly-looking noogie?**

 **Disclaimer: what's the name of this website again? Fanfiction? Wait- what does fanfiction mean? Ohhhhhhh. Ok.**

 _oooooooooooooo_

 _Penny figured Miss Martian was close behind, and prepared herself to keep fighting._

"Don't move," Artemis growled threateningly from on of the doorways, bow at the ready.

"This gig's getting interesting," the assassin chuckled, gazing at Penny, Artemis, and Aqualad. Where was Miss Martian? Was she checking in on Kid Flash or what?

The Shadow drew out a dagger that automatically lengthened, and Artemis let loose half a dozen arrows in a row. Miss Martian and Kid Flash came in, standing ready with Aqualad in front of Dr. Roquette.

"Maybe a little _too_ interesting," the assassin said with a glance at the martian and the speedster. Artemis was just about to fire again when a smoke bomb erupted, and Kid Flash tumbled through the smoke, crashing into his rival. She promptly shoved him off.

"Gone!" Kid Flash exclaimed at the now-empty-of-deadly-killers room.

"She's getting away!" Dr. Roquette cried at the unmoving group, "You're letting her get away!"

Before Aqualad could talk to their charge, Kid Flash burst out, "This is all your fault! You were on perimeter! How'd that Shadow get in?"

He was yelling at Artemis.

"That's not really fair," Miss Martian said, "I was outside too."

The atmosphere deflated a little, but Kid Flash still persisted, "Outside- being distracted by her!"

He turned to Artemis with a glare, then back to Miss Martian, "Besides, I can't be mad at you."

Then: _[You rescued me from drowning...]_

 _[Actually, that was me,]_ Penny put in flatly before he could think of anything flirtatious that pulling someone from the pool had.

"Dang it!" He gave up and walked off to the side.

"I didn't do half as well during my first battle," Miss Martian was saying to Artemis, "and I know you can't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for very long."

"Focus, everyone," Aqualad cut in, "the Shadows will be back."

" **Robin to Aqualad"** came Robin's voice abruptly over the comms, " **we're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target. Star Labs. We're too late- it's destroyed! Totally destroyed…"**

" **The Fog** _ **decimated**_ **it. This is bad. Star Labs is cutting-edge science and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy. What's our next move?"**

"Rescan for the Fog. Find it," Aqualad directed this towards Dr. Roquette, then said, "we're moving the doctor."

…..

It was really quiet.

Penny and Dr. Roquette were the only ones in the room, and Penny had her invisibility belt(fixed again, wasn't as destroyed from a little bullet nick as it had been from a bunch of weird fluid) turned on.

Aqualad and the rest of the team were pretending to guard Dr. Roquette-as in, Miss Martian shape-shifted to look like the scientist/doctor and the rest of the team patrolled the building.

So now Penny was keeping an eye out for any assassins that might slip past the ruse and find the real nanotech genius. Of course, there wouldn't be any action for a while, and her mind drifted to other thoughts as her ears stayed open.

Why had Batman let her, _invited_ her, even, onto the team? Aside from her ability, Penny wasn't anything special. She didn't have a mentor that was on the league, unlike the rest of the team. She wasn't a genius, just reasonable. She even had moments where she was absolutely sure she would be able to handle the situation- occasional hubris: excessive pride or self-confidence and one of her many weaknesses.

Or maybe Batman put her on the team for that very reason. So that the League could keep an eye on her, and so that she could learn from her mistakes.

 _Rssl._ Fabric rubbing together. Just Dr. Roquette.

 _Tap. Tap._ Okay, the doctor wasn't exactly walking. So that one wasn't Dr. Roquette. Penny perked up, now alert. It was hard to hear over the constant clatter of the computer keys being pressed. Though that didn't sound like shoes, more like slippers or bare feet pounding their way. The assassins wouldn't so loud-

Aqualad slipped in through the door and acted like Penny wasn't there. Dr. Roquette actually didn't know she was there, so Penny wouldn't be given away by the scientist if an assassin found their spot. The atlantean took a brief look at Dr. Roquette and stayed near the door. A few minutes later, and a thump sounded from the roof.

"We have company," Aqualad stressed to the doctor, also needlessly aiming the comment at Penny. She shifted to stand between Dr. Roquette and the door.

"Uploading now!" the woman reassured Aqualad, "and by the way, you said you'd protect me!"

The leader didn't respond, his and Penny's attention on the smoke pellet rattling into the room from a hallway. _They got in through the back door!_

 _Ssssssss._ Smoke filled the room. Aqualad drew his swords, and Penny shifted closer to Dr. Roquette.

Another creak sounded from up and behind. Aqualad turned quickly, met by a trio of darts into his chest. Lucky his skin was thick.

"Let's test the limit of you jellyfish immunity, shall we?" the assassin with the cat-like mask from before dropped into the room, posed to attack.

Aqualad quickly shook off the brief effects of the apparently poisoned darts. With a battle cry, he swung himself(not only the swords) at the attacker. Penny remained in place, trusting the atlantean not to kill himself. That is, until the assassin kicked him without to much effort and he keeled over.

"There, limit tested," she said smugly. She was not, however, expecting an invisible spy to slam into her at full force.

The assassin tumbled to the ground, barely managing a back handspring before Penny knocked one of the sai out of her hand and kneed her in the stomach. Giving her no reprieve, Penny used her invisibility to her full advantage, knocking the assassin's feet out from under her.

The Shadow lunged forward with her other sai, successfully warding Penny off and giving herself time to get back on her feet and press a button on her mask.

"There you are," said her opponent. _Seriously? Heat vision, or something? My advantage never lasts for long!_ Penny ducked another jab, this one aimed far less wildly, dropping to the floor and kicking the weapon out of her attacker's hand to leave her knife-less.

The assassin tried to kick Penny's head, but both of them were distracted by a beep.

"So you finished the virus," the Shadow said to a wary Dr. Roquette. Penny scrambled out of her current vulnerable position to stand next to the doctor. "Eliminating the reason for your elimination."

With that happy note, the assassin fled the room. Penny deactivated her belt and took the few steps to Aqualad, who was still lying on the floor. After a small moment of relief seeing that the atlantean was still breathing, Penny heard a small explosion nearby, and incomprehensible voices talking. Right as she was about to poke her head out the door, Aqualad groaned, and Penny noted that he was regaining consciousness. Instead of looking to see what the commotion was, she returned to his side and helped him up. Dr. Roquette was still in the room(she seemed a little bewildered mixed with relieved; maybe that's why she didn't make any complaints?).

Penny half carried, half let Aqualad lean on her as she exited the cafe with Dr. Roquette. Artemis was standing outside.

"Artemis," Aqualad huffed breathlessly, "where's the assassin?"

The archer didn't meet either of their eyes as she responded, "she, uh, she got away."

Kid Flash suddenly appeared next to the blonde and added a snarky comment of his own, "woah, from you! Oh- _big_ surprise!"

His voice dripped sarcasm. Penny's glare dripped murder. Fortunately for him, Kid Flash wasn't looking at the mute spy and instead pointed out the two men tied up securely in a rope that Miss Martian was suspending in the air.

"Cool, souvenir!" Kid Flash said, picking up something off the ground. Taking one look at it, Penny knew it was the mask of the assassin, and Aqualad voiced her thoughts.

"Her mask? Did you see her-" he paused to stop leaning on Penny and yanked two of the darts out of his chest, "-her face?"

"It was dark," Artemis defended in a strained tone, turning away from them. _She must hate having to admit that she both let the assassin get away_ and _couldn't see her face in the process._

"It is fine," Aqualad stated, "Robin and Superboy neutralized the fog. And Dr. Roquette is safe."

Artemis kept her back turned until Aqualad finished, "thanks in no small part to you."

"Welcome to the team."

Artemis let a faint smile grace her features, and the part of the team that was there acknowledged her joining a little more formally than the encounter in the cave. At least Kid Flash seemed to be warming up to her.

Penny watched the speedster awkwardly back away before approaching Artemis with a shrug and mouthing a 'hi'. Probably not any less awkward than Kid Flash, but hey, not her fault. Besides, Aqualad solved that exchange for her with a quiet, "Glance is mute," to Artemis as Penny escaped social interaction.

Not bad for their second- oh, wait, Penny missed the actual second one. Retry:

Not bad for their third official mission.

ooooooooooooooooooo

 **Whoo! That was...decent. Next up: I don't know, maybe more team bonding or the next episode- or both :D**


	9. The Quest for Camber P1

**I do believe that this is neither team bonding nor the next episode. Oh well. I need a little side plot in this story anyways.**

 **Should I start responding directly to reviews via author's note (this could get annoying if I get like, over twenty reviews in a day) or just keep remaining vague and rather oblivious to most of your ideas?**

 **Eh. Oh right, DISCLAIMER: I still haven't looked up exactly who owns Young Justice, but the owner sure ain't me.**

 **YJ Season 3!**

oooooooooooo

After almost two weeks of being grounded and eating eventually perfected lasagna(after suffering through the unperfected days), Penny was raring for some action. The mission a few nights prior didn't count.

...

No, it didn't!

So when the sixteen-year-old opened her eyes that/this/whatever morning prepared to jump out and start randomly patrolling Astro City, she was not expecting to see a black-haired girl's face a mere foot and a half away from her own.

If Penny could have shrieked 'ahh!' she would have.

Instead, what came out sounded more like a breathy 'huaahh'. Penny shoved herself into a sitting position against the headboard of her bed.

The girl looked at Penny with a smirk playing on her face and slight concern as she pointed out, "you tossed off all your blankets in your sleep."

The girl's face was foreign, yet familiar. Very slight Korean features, glossy black and curly shoulder-length hair, a pair of thick black glasses.

She sort of looked like…

"Does the name Camber ring a bell?" the girl queried. No, not 'the girl'.

Penny's absolute best childhood friend!

From seven years ago, of course. Penny strangled her with a hug anyways.

"Whoa there, Freckles," Camber choked out. A second passed and Penny released her hold, grinning like a maniac.

How are you here? Penny signed, about to continue when her friend interrupted her.

"Is that sign language? I don't know sign language." A pause. "I'm sorry I couldn't visit sooner. It's been almost eight years, and for seven of those I didn't have contact with you. I was afraid of what our friendship would be like when I finally moved back...but it seems it didn't change."

She flashed a frown, "though you did. It's terrible what happened to you! Your grandparents told me."

Penny's thoughts were left squirming uncomfortably in the following silence with the topic she normally left to plague her dreams. Camber slid off of the bed. "Still a sore subject, then. So you can't talk? Can't make the slightest noise?"

Penny let out an exaggeratedly loud huff, then a whistle just to prove her point.

"Okay Freckles, a _little_ noise," Camber relented, "not to be insensitive, but that's an improvement from your monkey chatter back in third grade.''

Penny snorted and realized that the lights of her room were on. Nothing was a mess, unlike the pigsty she had gone to bed to last night. Her combat outfit was nowhere to be seen. _Thank goodness for grandparents._

"So, first things first," Camber clapped her hands together, effectively gaining Penny's attention. "We're shopping. I already pawed through your dresser; the selection is _pitiful._ Let's go, Freckles."

 _What?_ Penny found herself dragged out of bed. A bundle of cloth was shoved into her chest, and Camber disappeared out the door, locking it and then pulling it closed behind her. _Fun. I get to change clothes. Then I get to shop._

 _Uggghhhhh._

 _Oh, I need to make her stop calling me Freckles. I only have, like, ten of them!_

…...

"Okay, you have everything?" Camber asked as they exited the mall. Penny couldn't remember the last time she had visited a mall, but staring at the countless pairs of pants, shirts, shoes, and misc. she had been talked into buying, she was perfectly content to not visit one again.

Ever.

Noticing her friend's rather grumpy face, Camber chuckled and guided Penny around the corner of the block. Penny morphed her face to a more neutral expression for the sake of Camber. On the bright side, Camber was going to be in town for another month. And Penny had a (supposedly) way better selection of a wardrobe.

"Oh! We have to cross that to get back," Camber pointed out.

Penny took one look at the tangle of the intersection, filled with the rush hour, and decided against it. _This is what we get for taking a taxi to the mall but not ensuring that we could get one on the way back._ She shook her head at Camber and pointed back the way they had come.

"Go back? Why?"

 _Because I know a different way, duh!_ Penny (obviously) didn't (couldn't) answer, instead towing Camber to the left for a minute or two, where the layout of Astro City began to get a bit weird. She came to a stop in front of the old, seemingly endless alley that she wouldn't normally be afraid to enter and considered it for a moment. _I only go this way in costume. Just a shady person in a shady alley. But with Camber, and arms full of shopping bags, and in civvies…?_

At her hesitation, Camber plowed forwards, fearless. Penny scurried after her with an indignant squeak of a whistle. For the most part, the trek was silent. Shadows clutched at the two teenagers, despite it being early noon. A stray cat peeked out of a basket, two kittens an identical tabby grey to it doing the same. Clutter was easily stepped over. They didn't come across any lurking foes.

That is, until Penny directed them around a corner.

Two men dressed head-to-toe in black stepped in front of them. Penny could sense the sudden presence of another behind her and Camber. Actually, she wasn't even sure they were men, because every inch of skin(even the face) was covered.

Penny and Camber let out simultaneous gasps, and the next second both their mouths were covered tightly by the person behind them, his/her arms around their necks in a secure position.

Both girls struggled, and while Penny managed to squirm out, Camber appeared to be stuck. Penny tossed her bags onto the ground, but before she could kick their butts to no-man's-land, one of the first two towered over her. He blocked her first jab. And with one lightning-fast move, intense pain seared through her leg.

The world turned black.

oooooooooooooo

 **LegitMistress123 (Guest): that idea was just too funny in my head not to give it a try. Here's my best:**

[ _No-nonono,_ ] Penny reprimanded Kid Flash, [ _When I put my left hand into the 'A' sign and put it on the palm of my right hand, it means 'help'._ NOT ' _do you want to go on a date'.]_

"Aren't they the same thing?" Kid Flash asked innocently.

 **...Yeah. Call it a bonus scene.**

 **PS- hey, guess what? Next chapter ISN'T part two of this mini story-arc! Suufffferrrrrr! You may consider me mean. Or evil.**


	10. Bereft

**Disclaimer: -_- I don't own Young Justice, but thumbs up to those who do own it for the upcoming season 3!**

 **I figure you might want a small explanation: this is during the episode Bereft. I know, almost two month time skip, but you'll get the gist of it throughout the story. Hopefully.**

oooooooooooo

The first thing Penny was aware of was the throbbing heat.

Then the gritty sand scraping her tongue.

The familiar presence of her mask ringing around her eyes.

 _Ugggghhhhhh. What hit me? A truck?_ She abruptly moved her hands under her chest and shoved her upper body off the ground, spitting the sand out of her mouth. After a moment, she felt awake enough to open her scrunched-up eyes and ponder the reddish sand a foot away from her face. _Do I know any volleyball courts with not-pale-yellow sand?_

She woozily stood up, hand above her eyes to block the sun and blinked at the endless sea of sand before her. _I thought not. Highly doubt they'd be this large, too._

 _So what exactly am I doing in a_ desert _?_

Penny took a cautious step forward and nearly collapsed in surprise from the small burst of pain. _Ow! And what happened to my leg? I'm sore so I've obviously been out for a while, but I'm not_ that _sore!_ She put a small weight on her right leg again, feeling something extra underneath her normal, thick black tights(maybe black was a bad color-she was burning from the inside). After a minute of contemplation, Penny decided that she must have a cast on her leg. _It's obviously about healed though. It was probably broken or similar. But I definitely didn't have a broken leg yesterday so I must be missing_ at least _a month of memory._

Penny took another long look at her situation and sighed. It was late afternoon; the sun would most likely be set in five or six hours, and she had nowhere to go. There was a single large rock spire to her left. She couldn't even find anything of use in her belt, just the usual bits and odds of equipment that she didn't have the need for amnesia to forget what she originally put them in there for.

A piece of flint, some small chunk of rock in a separate pouch: for making a fire. Not that she had need of that(it was hot enough) and even if she did want to try smoke signals, there was no wood or burnable materials around. A melted protein bar, a lockpick, a sliver of mirror, a few bombs and bomb materials. A screwdriver that Penny had never seen before but realized it was just right to make minute adjustments to her invisibility belt.

Wait, _mirror_?

Penny closed the screwdriver pouch and reopened the one that had the sneaky object, pulling it out swiftly. Just as she did so, the drone of an airplane filled the air. She acted instinctively, switching on her belt and ducking next to the rock tower. _Plane. Could be friendly, can't take the chance though. This rules out using the mirror as well because there might not be anyone friendly around to see it._

The plane faded into the horizon. A few minutes later, a tiny spiral of smoke curled into the sky from where it disappeared.

 _Something going on over there, huh? Don't mind if I do. Better chance of me not starving to death. Or getting heat stroke._ And with that thought, she set off.

…...

After several hours of walking, the sun had finally dipped behind the hills of sand. The column of smoke had long since disappeared, and Penny probably had long since lost her bearings.

She stopped again, annoyed at the trouble her leg was causing her. The hills were a lot steeper over here, and the dark of the night only lended her a colder temperature. Penny sat down behind a small jut of stone and licked her cracked lips. She was seriously dehydrated and already(hesitantly) had eaten that melted protein bar an hour or two ago. Curiously enough, she had also discovered a comm device in her ear, but it was cracked in half. Not like she would have been able to do anything but whistle into it anyways.

Penny turned off her belt and was about to try to get some sleep when she heard the voices. A series of unrecognizable words, the sound of a car, then: "quick! Over there!"

She scrambled out of the way as three teens carrying a makeshift stretcher slid behind the outcrop.

"Penelope!" whispered a black-haired boy who was...dressed like Robin?

Do I know you? Penny signed in response, not expecting the(or even _an_ ) answer.

"Yeah, long story short: memory loss. You're on our team. Bialyan soldiers everywhere," Robin(?) summed up. Before Penny could even attempt to comprehend what he just said, the boy on the stretcher began mumbling in a different language.

 _Uhhhhh,_ thought Penny, _that's Aqualad._

Robin, a boy who Penny assumed was Kid Flash(despite him wearing black), and a girl who Penny recognized from nowhere all fell silent as they peeked around the rock. She could hear people parading behind the rock and realized that they were probably the Bialyan soldiers.

"We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KOed like this," Robin said, all of them returning to their hiding spots. Said atlantean let out another murmur.

"It's not just him," Kid Flash added, "I'm way out of juice."

"And I'm almost out of arrows," the girl added. Penny noted her clothes: similar to those of Green Arrow. Kid Flash looked back to Robin, and Penny followed his gaze only to find Batman's partner gone.

"Nngh, I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing," Kid Flash fumed.

That's a thing? Penny signed, but received no response from either of the heroes. _I guess only Robin knew sign language._

Kid Flash and the girl continued to argue until Robin suddenly reappeared.

"Dude, where were you?" Kid Flash asked.

"Breaking radio silence," the boy wonder responded smugly.

As if on cue, chilling laughter rang through the air and smoke erupted from where the soldiers were gathered.

"That's our cue: move!" Robin said, leading them away. Penny only hesitated a millisecond before following.

They got away from the squad of soldiers without trouble and eventually reached a strange looking red and black ship. In it, they hooked Aqualad up to an IV. Penny, being completely clueless, simply paced in the ship for the full minute before a voice echoed in her head.

[ _Hey everybody, I've got Superboy. He's back to normal and we're on our way!]_

What was that? Penny directed at Robin.

"Who are you!" Aqualad burst out, sitting up from his cot, "and how did you get inside my head?"

[ _Hello Megan! Aqualad and Glance's memories! I knew I forgot something!]_

Ironic, Penny signed.

….

After everyone's memories were fully restored, Penny got her leg checked out again. With the annoying news that thanks to certain 'strenuous activities' before and during the mission she would have to wear the cast and take it easy for another week, she fled back to her house.

"Dear, you're finally home! Long mission, eh?" Grandpa greeted from the couch(watching tv) as she walked in the door with a slight limp. Penny acknowledged him with a small wave and what she hoped was a cheerful smile and slowly climbed the stairs.

Upon reaching her door, she threw it open, closing it just as swiftly behind herself and found the room a complete mess: exactly how she remembered it.

Bed sheets tossed, several pens, pencils, leafs of paper and notes littering the floor. Her window partially open and the curtains quivering from a slight breeze. Penny's leg protested as she kneeled to look at the notes-few and not very helpful-that she had collected on her first outing after the kidnapping, the pain of the almost healed limb a sore reminder of her failure stop the thugs.

She squeezed the paper tightly, eyes narrowing. _I'll find you Camber. I'm not letting you leave me again._

oooooooooooooooo

 **And there you have it!**


	11. Targets

**Disclaimer: YJ ain't mine**

oooooooooooo

There were several things Penny didn't understand about the kidnapping of Camber. She even took the liberty to make a list:

 _-Why didn't the kidnappers take me as well?_

 _-Why wasn't there any mention of ransom? Why haven't her parents contacted me?_

 _-Why her over me? There must have been a reason_

 _-Why didn't they kill me-just break my leg?_

 _-They left all the shopping, both hers and mine, alone_

Of course, these were numbered in importance. And there might have been other details she missed. After her leg had fully healed, Penny had stretched it by chasing down crime. Suspiciously, all the criminals were on the down-low, and few she managed to catch in the last few days knew nothing and were of no help to her investigation.

Penny growled as good as a mute girl could possibly growl and rolled off her bed. Staring at her constantly messy room, she started the cleaning by closing the again-opened window and making her bed. In the middle of rearranging her bookshelf, the doorbell resonated into her room.

 _Who could that be?_

Since her grandparents were conveniently at one of their friends' houses, Penny made sure she was in decent clothing before racing down the stairs and opening the door.

Standing there was Aqualad, composed as ever.

"Forgive my intrusion, Glance," Aqualad said, "but I believe we have need of your abilities."

 _Hi to you too._

…

 _It's about time they figured out my identity,_ Penny thought as she listened to the explanation(courtesy of Aqualad; Red Arrow still hadn't talked to her and she wondered she would ever properly meet him), _though I suppose they figured it out a while ago if Robin's first thought when meeting me in that desert was to call me by my first name rather than by my alias. And he probably figured out how I managed to beat him in that training session...or maybe only Aqualad knows my power and that's how they know about it for this mission._

But none of that really mattered. Penny felt ridiculously honored to even be considered for going on a mission with Aqualad and Red Arrow. Really, only those two. The protege gone solo, and the leader of the Team.

If Penny didn't pride herself on being a (somewhat) professional spy she'd be blushing.

Being a mature 16 years old helps.

Now she was standing amongst a crowd along with Aqualad at the summit in Taipei. Naturally, she wondered how Lex Luthor of all people had ended up being the one they were protecting, considering his infamy among the League, but she understood that it was better to worry about the fate of the Rhelasias instead of the fate of one man.

She had wisely decided against lounging around invisible due to the fact that she could be mistaken for an assassin by any guards who might bump into her or have thermal vision( _that_ she doubted, but one could never be sure). Red Arrow stood in costume against the wall behind the bickering representatives.

"The unification is unthinkable!"

"Our peoples no longer have anything in common!"

There was no cease to the sound of snapping cameras.

"Gentlemen," said Lex Luthor soothingly, "This is mere rhetoric*. Despite your differences, you still share an appreciation for many things. Such as, the exquisite art of the Rhelasian tea ceremony."

On cue, a bell chimed softly. Penny turned along with a few of the crowd to get a better look at thee woman rolling the cart towards the group...though Penny was watching for different reasons.

 _Right height, right build. The smug look on her face is suspiciosu and the way she walks is familiar, too. Here's to her being Cheshire._ Penny tilted her head towards Aqualad slightly; what he did next was proof enough that he saw the signal.

"That's far enough-Cheshire," the atlantean said, turning around and holding his water bearers at the ready. His statement drew gasps out of the crowd while Cheshire's eyes narrowed. Penny could hear Red Arrow prepping his bow. She plastered her mask onto her face once she was sure no cameras were trained on her.

With a yell, Cheshire pushed a button on the cart and shoved it at Aqualad.

And then everything exploded.

Sorry, overstatement: everything outside of the wall of water that Aqualad quickly produced exploded.

Even so, everyone could feel the force of Red Arrow's blast through the shield. By the time Aqualad dropped the wall, two of the large statues had collapsed between the meeting and Cheshire. The assassin was unsurprisingly knocked to the ground, and a large hole took the place of the full-wall windows.

The crowd cleared out of the way as Penny shed her jacket and strode to stand next to Aqualad. Cheshire slowly pulled herself up as Red Arrow joined the two.

"It's over Cheshire," Red Arrow said while notching an arrow, string of his bow taut.

"You would think so," she replied.

Penny was suddenly aware of helicopter blades whirring, and the respective vehicle was soon hovering by the opening where the large window used to be. Sportsmaster and a squad of nameless assassins stood inside.

One of the representatives shouted an order to the guards standing ready, and the two sides clashed.

"Take Sportsmaster," Red Arrow ordered, "Cheshire's mine!"

"Mmmm, so territorial, and only our third date," Cheshire taunted. The archer released his arrow, and while Cheshire blocked it, Aqualad flipped over her. Penny followed suit, sprinting past the assassin as Red Arrow let fly a barrage.

Aqualad reached Sportsmaster first, delivering a solid blow using a water whip with a mace formed at its end. As they battled, Penny waited for an opening and knocked out a passing assassin with a flurry of punches during the wait.

Cheshire started to say something, and Aqualad turned his head to catch what she was saying. Penny saw Sportsmaster's next move coming by a mile, and tackled _him_ before _he_ could tackle the distracted atlantean.

Both Penny and Sportsmaster landed on the ground, but Penny used his chest as a springboard and flipped off, landing with her back to him. As quickly as she could, she turned to face him again and found him standing. She was about to attack him again when a few of the thug assassins decided to dog pile her.

 _With all this tackling, I feel like I'm in a football* game,_ Penny thought as she squirmed out of their grip. Not being able to escape that easily, she resorted to wild kicking and managed to knock them off. Taking that small space of time available, Penny glanced around and saw that Aqualad was again fighting Sportsmaster. Then she had focus on warding off the assassin that decided they had enough rest.

A minute later, Penny was staring at three assassins taking a nap on the floor. There was small explosion, and she looked up to see the sprinkler system activated, water cascading down. Blinking, Penny quickly realized its purpose as a large serpent of water winding through the room and knocking most of the assassins out. She stepped aside as it swept her three away, but a second later smoke filled the room.

Coughing like crazy, Penny cautiously walked in the direction she had last seen Aqualad and Red Arrow. The smoke dispersed quickly, and she reached the boys just in time to witness Lex Luthor's assistant zap an attacking assassin with a cybernetic laser...that was her arm. Penny let out an impressed whistle as the bodyguard's arm returned to normal.

"Puts a new meaning to the arms race, doesn't she?" Luthor said with a smile. The North and South Rhelasia representatives let out twin sighs of relief.

"That technology is most impressive!"

"We owe you our lives, sir."

Red Arrow scowled as the three heroes watched them shake hands with Lex Luthor.

"They owe _him_ their lives?" the archer questioned. Penny sighed in agreement.

…...

Penny hightailed it out of there once she was sure no assassins were lurking about. She had had a sudden strike of inspiration. After all, if anyone could track down Camber, it would be them. She just didn't know why she hadn't thought of them before.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

 ***Rhetoric- was this the word he used? Cause it looks an awful lot like 'rhetorical' and I don't think that fits the context of the sentence**

 ***For all you non-american readers out there, I mean American football, not football/soccer**


	12. Homefront and The Quest for Camber P2

**Disclaimer: I'll have the usual today, thank you**

 **(Some)Review Answers!**

 **Now, I suppose Wally would be cute with Penny, but A) I'm not aiming to write any romance with Penny B) I'm pretty sure I suck at writing romance, and C) I'm a minor Spitfire fan.**

 **No, Cheshire is not helping Penny with her search. Cheshire isn't exactly on a friendly basis with the team yet. Interesting idea, though**

 **I actually forgot Robin was an option, so now he and Batman are helping Penny. Or at least Robin. So, sort of stole that idea, and now you know the 'mystery' person/people Penny went to for help**

 **PS: Camber's last name is Chung...and there isn't very much action in this chapter. Sort of, but not really.**

oooooooooooo

It had been two weeks since Penny had contacted the dynamic duo about her dilemma, and Robin had told her to meet him at 7:00 pm today. During the two week wait, Penny had tracked down another lead: Camber's address. Or, the only house rented out by the Chung's at the time of Camber's arrival. Obviously their month stay had expired, but the house still registered as being used by the family. Maybe Camber's parents stayed in Astro to file a missing person's report and deal with other matters.

So there she was, a mute girl and her grandfather(because Grandma was always busy at work) to translate Penny's sign language, standing at the current residence of one Chung family.

 _Ding. Doooong._

A woman who looked to be in her 20's opened the door.

"Yes?" She asked, accent trudging through the air. Both Penny and Grandpa were now frowning.

"Excuse me, we must have the wrong address. Are you Mrs. Chung?" Penny's grandfather asked politely. Penny scrutinized the lady.

"Actually, _Miss_ Chung. I'm not married," retorted the young woman, an indignant air about her.

"I'm so sorry!" Grandpa exclaimed. With a dramatic flourish he rested his hand on his forehead, "it appears we have the wrong Chung family! Good day to you, madame. My sincerest apologies. We shall depart now."

He waited until he and his granddaughter were back in the cab before asking her innocently, "can women give birth at the age of ten?"

I don't think I want to know, Penny replied before changing topic, you laid on that vocabulary a bit thick. But that woman was definitely not Camber's mother. Which begs the question: if Camber's family didn't rent out that house, which house did they rent out? If any at all, why under a different name? That was the only house being used by a Chung family when Camber was here.

"You might find out later today," Grandpa offered, "didn't your-" he glanced at the taxi driver, "- _friend_ say he'd meet you at that _one place_ with information?"

Penny nodded, sinking into her seat. _But he might not even have useful information, if any at all._ Today was going to be a long day.

And she didn't even know the half of it.

….

Penny zeta-ed into the Cave fifteen minutes early, and was met with the sight of Miss Martian and Superboy kissing.

"Oh!" Miss Martian exclaimed, pulling herself away from Superboy. The dark red blush stood out against her green skin. "Glance!"

Penny tapped her temple, and Miss Martian inexplicably deepened her blush and complied with her request. A second later, the mind link was established.

 _[Call me Penny. I'm out of costume,]_ She turned towards the unresponsive Superboy, _[I wasn't aware you two were a thing. Have either of you seen Robin? I'm meeting him here at 7:00.]_

The aliens shook their heads in denial. Miss Martian piped up, "you have thirteen more minutes, though."

Penny frowned, but then sighed reluctantly. _[I guess I can wait. If he comes early, tell him I'm in the library, please.]_

And with that she headed off, passing the sphere she remembered had been following Superboy in the aftermath of the Bialyan fiasco.

For an amazing record of two minutes, nothing happened. Of course, that didn't last long. Just as Penny had decided to select a book from the shelf a blast of heat on her back sent her sprawling face-first into said sturdy shelf.

 _Really?_

Penny pushed herself away from the bookshelf before she could fall on the floor and turned to face her attacker…

...who was a feminine-shaped Red Tornado engulfed in flames.

 _You can not. Be. Serious._

Penny ended up dodging another stream of fire, weaving through the library and mourning the loss of probably a hundred books, shedding her on-fire jacket along the way.

 _Fine, I get it. You're serious._

As she exited the library, sprinting for her life through the halls, Penny tried the mind link Miss Martian presumably was still holding up. _[Intruder! Miss Martian can you h-]_

Erupting down the stairs and out into the bay area, Penny was cut off by smashing into Aqualad, sending both of them to the ground. A ball of fire sailed over and narrowly missed them, but collided with Miss Martian, knocking her out mostly due to her weakness.

Penny quickly rolled off of Aqualad and pulled him up with her. As the female Red emerged from the stairway, a thick wave of water swept Penny off her feet and over the edge of the platform. _There goes my invisibility belt's functionality. This is why I never have time to make it break-proof: because I'm too busy_ fixing _it!_

For a few seconds, all Penny could see was they grey-blue of the offending sea water. Her civilian clothes were pressed to her, limp and thoroughly soaked. The cold chilled her to the bone.

After she had been underwater for a total of two seconds, Penny struggled towards the surface, using all the swimming strokes she knew, to no avail. Panic set in the moment she realized she wasn't going anywhere, and unconsciousness didn't take long to follow.

….

"Glance. Hey- Glance!"

Penny twitched her eyes open, instinctively jolting her hand over her eyes at the light.

"Are you okay?" Artemis asked, eyeing her with concern.

In response, Penny groaned and rolled to her side in order to vomit the gallon of seawater still in her.

"Nevermind," the archer decided wisely.

"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Penny watched as Robin hefted a large(ish) machine. Kid Flash was the asker of the question; he and Superboy were encased in a grayish substance.

"EMP shuts down all machines, remember?" Artemis snapped. Penny finally gained the will to stand up.

"All machines present at the time."

Everyone looked as Red Tornado himself came into the cave. By the look-alikes laying on the floor, Penny assumed the team had managed to fight off the intruders.

"What has occurred?" The leaguer asked.

"We had a little visit from your _family_ ," Robin provided.

"Your extremely _nasty_ family!" Artemis added.

"I was not aware I had relations."

"Where have you been?" Superboy demanded.

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," Red Tornado answered, approaching the other androids. "When it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your zeta-tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to Providence and proceeded here."

The sphere stuck in the wall whirred to life and unlodged itself, rolling to a stop near Superboy, who greeted it with a, "hey, boy."

The machine Robin was holding let out a blast that quickly receded to smoke.

"The pulse has worn off!" both Robin and Kid Flash exclaimed. Penny turned back to Red Tornado just in time to see the small spark of electricity between his finger and one of his sibling's.

Before she knew it, Red Tornado had activated his powers, and all the air was sucked out of her lungs as she gradually fell back to unconsciousness.

…...

"She's alright," Penny heard Superman announce. She snapped open her eyes and saw Artemis being helped up by the man of steel.

"Glance is, too," Superman added. Penny blinked and slowly stood up again. All around her, various league members stood by their protégés. "What happened here?"

"What happened!" Artemis burst out, "the Reds happened! Tornado and his- wait, where are they?"

"Gone," Robin said, turning away from a talk with Batman. "All three of them. Gone."

A little bit later, Robin finished his conversation with Batman and approached Penny.

"I have an update on your 'Camber Lee'," he said.

Spit it out then, Penny urged.

"Glance, Camber Lee never made a visit to Astro City," Robin started slowly. Penny patiently stared at him until he continued.

"She died along with her family when her plane to Korea crashed."

 _What?_

oooooooooooooo

 **Sooooo… Who wants** **Penny's** **backstory? I might do it in flashbacks, a stand-alone chapter, or both. Otherwise I'll probably just keep leaking facts. Not like it's secret or anything.**

 **It's really hard and annoying to guestimate where the rooms are in Mt. Justice. Just saying.**


	13. Alpha Male P1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice**

ooooooooooooooo

The attack the night before had startled Penny out of her wits. Against all better judgement, she crashed at the mountain and spent the night trying to dry off her soaked clothes(due to the bed in her room having rather absorbent and warm blankets but no extra garments). Thankfully, she had remembered to alert her grandparents, so she wouldn't have to worry about getting grounded(again).

So when she woke the next morning, her first thought was: _I need to customize my room._ As in, her room at the mountain.

Her second thought was a little more important: _so if Camber never made it to Korea, actually_ died _, who visited me? Was she Camber, like a ghost, which would explain the absence of leads...no missing persons reports...but why? Why would a ghost(if they exist) visit me and for goodness's sake: shop with/for me?_

An alarm clock blaring finally caused her to sit up in bed. She smashed the alarm clock's button and managed to get the beeping to stop without decimating the digital clock itself. With a groan, Penny realized it was 6:30 in the morning. 6:30.

In.

The.

Morning.

 _Fine. Have it your way._

Within three minutes, Penny had tamed her hair and left the room. In the bay cavern, Justice League members were busy cleaning the cave up from the android attack. Penny changed her mind and ascended the stairs again, winding up in the mission room where her teammates were seated at a lone table. Batman and Aqualad stood far away, near the walls, talking. Green Arrow(Black Canary by his side) was handing Kid Flash a bowl of pretzels as Penny approached.

"Thanks but no thanks," Kid Flash denied. Penny sat next to Miss Martian.

"Yeah," Robin supported the speedster, "what we want are answers! About Red Tornado and his siblings!"

Penny was still waking up(who's really awake six minutes after the alarm beeps? _Rhetorical question, answer at your own risk_ ) by this point, so she didn't perk up nearly as much as she might have upon hearing this question.

"Exactly!" Kid Flash emphasized.

Green Arrow's only response was to try to take the bowl of pretzels.

"Leave the bowl," the speedster pleaded, stealing it back and proceeding to scarf them down. In the following silence, Penny let out a sneeze, followed by a quick sniffle. _And now I have a cold. Not my best move, sleeping in wet clothes._ _And I still have my mask on! What is wrong with me?_

 _A) You're mildly sick, B) you're not actually awake, and C) this thought isn't helping,_ her consciousness answered sarcastically.

Suddenly, Superboy(whom Penny is pretty sure has a name: Conner…?) attacked Aqualad, grabbing the atlantean by the shirt and holding him against the wall with an outraged, "you knew! That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!"

Miss Martian quickly left her seat, flying wide-eyed towards Superboy.

"Conner, what are you doing?" she asked worriedly. _Ah, his name_ **is** _Conner. I should have confirmed that a long time ago._

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" came the reply. Now Penny was mostly awake, trailing her outraged teammates to the confrontation.

"You knew?" Robin.

"And didn't tell us?" Kid Flash.

"I sought to protect the team from-" Aqualad defended.

"Protect us from what!?" Artemis interrupted, "knowledge that might of saved our _lives_?"

 _I'm angry too. But there some good reasons. Knowing wouldn't have prepared us- how would we know we would be attacked? I would have assumed that a traitor would just have gathered intel. Not organize an attack...though maybe that's what I would have done if I were a traitor. I mean, as a spy I never really engage my enemies…_

"You almost died!" Superboy needlessly told Miss Martian.

"Enough!"

That was Batman speaking, so naturally everyone obeyed. Superboy let go of Aqualad as Batman continued, "with Red Tornado missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

The red, yellow, and white costumed superhero stepped up to the teens, a big and startlingly genuine smile on his face.

"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," he greeted.

The team looked at each other, and Superboy went back to his previous standing, staring down Aqualad, "after I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-"

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League," Batman stated, a foot away from the kryptonian clone, "that makes him a _League_ responsibility. You _will_ leave him to us."

One second of silence. Then Batman again, pulling up a newspaper on the holographic computer, "I have another assignment for this team."

" _Gotham mayor attacked by guerrilla gorilla_?" Kid Flash read aloud in disbelief.

"Batman, please! Tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase!" Robin cried out.

Batman's face remained impassive, but his tone turned dark, "I never joke about the mission."

His tone returned to normal, "I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

Everyone but Robin and Penny promptly hustled past Aqualad after he nodded to Batman. Kid Flash said a sharp something to the atlantean. _This mission could end up a mess! Will they listen to Aqualad at all?_

…..

They reached their destination at about 9:30 pm via Miss Martian's bioship. Captain Marvel had tagged along. Mostly Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin had refused to look at Aqualad the whole way, Superboy shooting the occasional dirty look. Artemis was in a huff about it as well.

Penny, Artemis, and Robin dropped out of the bioship first, hooks reeling back into it. The bioship itself(herself?) landed a second later, allowing the remaining members to exit safely.

"All clear," Robin whispered.

"Switch to stealth," Aqualad commanded, "and we'll review mission parameters."

"Parameters, we don't need no stinkin' parameters," Kid Flash scowled, obliging to turn his suit a shadowy black.

"It's recon, we know what to do," Robin added. Both him and the speedster turned away from the group, prepared to proceed with the assignment.

"Kid, Robin," Aqualad called them.

"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us!" Robin declared.

Kid Flash contributed with a: "or, did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?"

With that, they both dashed into the forest. Superboy roughly offered to protect Miss Martian, and she seemingly denied his offer through telepathy because he then defended himself. Artemis got involved while sneaking in a complaint about Aqualad, Captain Marvel stood there awkwardly, then the girls marched off and Penny was left the only girl in the clearing.

"Why didn't you stop them?" Superboy accused Aqualad, "You're supposed to be in charge!"

"I am-" the team leader started to say. Superboy stopped his words by raising his hand(the universal sign of 'stop' or 'be quiet/shut up') and leaping away over the treetops.

 _Called it. A mess so far. At least no one's been captured or anything. I think._

"Did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" Captain Marvel asked Aqualad. Penny sneezed again.

"Gesundheit," Captain Marvel told her. She followed the older boy and the Leaguer as Aqualad led them into the jungle, going to turn on her invisibility belt before remembering that it was broken(again).

It wasn't long before they reached a large clearing where the undergrowth hand been trampled by large gorilla foot(and/or hand)prints.

Captain Marvel touched down on the ground next to Aqualad. "Guess this is where Mayor Hill's 'monkey business' went down. So, at least we've confirmed his story, right?"

Aqualad stepped forward, investigating, but didn't answer.

"Aqualad?" asked Captain Marvel.

"My apologies Captain," Aqualad said, "I am...plagued by doubts."

Doubts of what? Penny signed. Right then Aqualad looked like he wished he knew sign language. He continued anyways, "perhaps I _was_ wrong to withhold."

At _that_ Penny shook her head violently. She wasn't noticed due to the large crashing and rumbling sounds filling the forest. She widened her eyes and scanned the shadows.

Pebbles and dust and bugs bounced up from the ground with each stomping thunder. Something big was coming, and Penny retreated to the center of the clearing to stand back-to back with Aqualad.

 _CRASH._

A large elephant, wild-eyed and muscles bulging, stampeded towards the three. Without time for thought, the only one of them who moved was Captain Marvel, slamming himself into the elephant and stopping it from smashing them. The venom-enhanced beast(because some muscle was literally showing, a dead give-away) dragged Captain Marvel off of it using its trunk and tossed him effortlessly away. Penny wavered as more quakes bounced the ground, and another humongous elephant breached the forest.

 _Oh, fabulous._

oooooooooooooooooooo

 **Nobody answered my question in last chapter's A/N! I'm starting to wonder how many of you actually read A/Ns. Maybe the long ones scare you away.**

 **So that's it for today...not really feeling up to getting a better word count, but P2 should have about the same #...?**

 **See you next week!**


	14. Alpha Male P2

**Second Part!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice**

oooooooooooooooooooooo

 _The venom-enhanced beast dragged Captain Marvel off of it using its trunk and tossed him effortlessly away. Penny wavered as more quakes bounced the ground, and another humongous elephant breached the forest._

Oh, fabulous.

….

Penny switched to self-preservation mode and dived out of the rampaging elephants' way. Aqualad appeared to have done the same safely enough, but the elephants turned their focus on him. Penny realized she could do essentially no damage to the beasts, so while Aqualad narrowly dodged a few attacks from their trunks, she looked for any possible way to help.

It wasn't long before she spotted one.

Aqualad was swatted aside roughly. Captain Marvel recovered and flew in for another go and managed to knock one elephant aside. Penny waved wildly for Aqualad's attention while Captain Marvel distracted the other elephant.

"What?" the atlantean queried. Penny pointed at the elephant now rearing its head back in a trumpet of rage, and Aqualad gained a clear view of the object of importance: a thick black collar around the neck of the elephant.

"Captain!" Aqualad shouted instantly, "remove the collar!"

Captain Marvel heard Aqualad just as the elephant brought its trunk down to whack him. The League member quickly slammed himself into the collar, splitting it in half. The now docile elephant calmed down immediately and trotted of peacefully.

Then Captain Marvel may or may not have been batted out of the air by the forgotten and _not_ docile elephant's trunk.

It charged towards Penny and Aqualad. Penny chose that time to remember she had an explosive in her belt that had the blast power to destroy the remaining collar.

 _I hope he can figure out what this means,_ Penny thought, cupping her hands together and moving them upwards quickly while Aqualad was still looking at her before they had to scatter out of the way.

He nodded.

 _So I guess I'm really doing this, then._

Penny whistled, attracting the elephant to turn towards her. Since it was a slow turner, she took the opportunity to run behind it, reaching Aqualad again. Skidding to a stop, Aqualad was now facing her, between her and the elephant which was turning to face them and annoyed from rotating in a circle.

Penny wasted no time in sprinting straight to Aqualad. She stepped on his prepared and cupped hands, and using her momentum along with the strength of his push, soared over him. In the air she just barely had time to pull out the bomb, and as the elephant finished its shifting to face Aqualad, landed on its head, tumbling forward and placing the explosive on the collar. A second later, the collar broke off as the bomb detonated and Penny slid off the unthreatening elephant.

"Pretty sweet, the way you figured out the problem was the collars!" Captain Marvel complemented Aqualad.

"I'm afraid it was Glance who discovered it first," Aqualad humbly replied, "and the collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk."

He tried and failed to contact the team through the comm link, "Comm is jammed. And Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up."

"Actually," Captain Marvel ventured, " _you_ let everyone split up before communications were set."

"They would not listen!"

"I guess. But, back at the cave, Batman stopped everyone from arguing with _one word_."

"Because Batman is- _Batman_!"

"Hey, you don't have to tell me," Captain Marvel consented, "when I first joined the League all he did was boss me around. And it's hard not to take it personally. But, I never disobeyed an order, and that's probably what kept me alive."

 _Inspirational speech time. Huh, never imagined Aqualad would need one._

"Batman takes command," realization dawned in the atlantean's voice, "he has to. For the good of the League. Thank you for helping me understand."

"Hey, wisdom of solomon," came the cheery reply.

"Yes Miss Martian, report," Aqualad suddenly said, walking away from Captain Marvel.

 _Mind link? I wonder what she's saying._

Captain Marvel said something about a tiger and bolted into the woods.

"Captain, wait!" Aqualad seemed to break off of his conversation with Miss Martian and watched in vain the swift disappearance of Captain Marvel.

"Hey, speed of mercury," the atlantean commented dryly to Penny, who nodded in agreement. _Captain Marvel reminds me of Kid Flash sometimes._

They trekked into the jungle, stepping over rocks and ducking under branches while following the trail of broken undergrowth that Captain Marvel had plowed through. Soon Miss Martian's voice echoed in Penny's head.

[ _Link established.]_

 _[Should he really still be giving us orders?]_ Artemis said to Miss Martian, guessing correctly that the mindlink was by Aqualad's orders, _[and should_ you _really be following them?]_

 _[Listen,]_ Aqualad demanded, _[please-]_

 _[Oh, good, Aqualad's voice in my head,]_ Kid Flash remarked, _[I've_ so _missed that.]_

 _[Hey Kaldur,]_ Robin said, _[KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course since we're_ moles _, you probably think we attacked_ ourselves _.]_

 _[If he did, he wouldn't tell you,]_ Artemis added.

 _[Superboy, are you online, or just pouting?]_ Miss Martian intervened.

 _[Busy,]_ the kryptonian replied, _[call back later.]_

 _[What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us-]_ Kid Flash said.

 _[Oh, quit it,]_ Penny butted in, _[we're on a mission! Don't you have anything better to do other th-]_

She and Aqualad emerged into a small clearing, greeted by three strange pylons arranged in a triangle. Two parallel and shallow ditches led from the middle of the area inside the pylons to into the forest. Gorilla prints littered the ground.

 _[Penny, are you okay?]_ came Miss Martian's voice. The others had taken Penny's sudden silence as an opportunity to complain about Aqualad more.

[ _Yeah,]_ Penny said absentmindedly, more focused on the sight before her. Aqualad examined the tracks. The complaining grew higher in volume.

[ _Enough,]_ Aqualad ripped one of the pylons straight from the ground, [ _Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a_ team _to save him.]_

Kid Flash mind-scoffed, _[under_ your _leadership? I don't think-]_

 _[_ This _is not up for debate. You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will_ happily _step down. But until that time, I_ am _in command here,]_ he threw the pylon to the ground and continued to walk, only waiting a moment fro Penny to follow.

….

They eventually met up in the jungle and quickly located a grey circular building. It was surrounded by pylons similar to the ones that had apparently trapped Captain Marvel.

 _[I'll fly over,]_ Miss Martian offered, invisible. Artemis was notching an arrow, Penny could see Kid Flash had turned his goggles to their night or heat vision setting, and Robin was scanning the drab location.

 _[Negatory,]_ Kid Flash said, _[the field expands like a dome over the whole compound.]_

 _[Pylons are insulated, but one good shot could cause a momentary gap!]_ Robin added.

 _[I see a target,]_ Artemis piped up.

 _[Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you,]_ Aqualad said. He left the team where they were and went up to a pylon. The atlantean started to electrify that area of the dome, revealing the dome itself and opening a gap big enough for Artemis to shoot through.

 _[Now!]_ Robin said. She complied, and an arrow flew through, hitting a small control panel near the building's entrance.

There was the sound of a motor powering down, and the light Aqualad's electricity and that of the dome faded. The team gathered at Aqualad, and then something let out a screech.

Alarms immediately blared, and monkeys swarmed the group from all sides.

"Remove their collars!" Aqualad shouted, delivering a kick to one and ripping a collar off another. Penny jumped aside as a monkey threw itself at her. She didn't have any explosives handy, so she had to quickly grab the collar while avoiding gnashing fangs and smash the device with her other hand.

"Sounds easy when he says it," Penny heard Robin comment. The monkey fled, and Penny proceeded to do the same with any monkeys that strayed close to her. It didn't take much time for the rest of the team to get the hang of it as well.

A large gorilla wearing a red beret appeared in the doorframe of the building, grabbing hold of an invisible M'gann, causing the martian to de-camouflage. Kid Flash rushed to help her but was knocked away and almost toppled Penny. She caught the speedster and Miss Martian punched the gorilla through the wall. Sometimes Penny forgot the martian had super-strength as well.

The team freed the last of the monkeys and entered the building through the hole Miss MArtian had caused.

"It's the brain!" Kid Flash said once they were assembled inside and staring at a brain in a robotic body.

"Uh, I can see it's a brain," Artemis scoffed.

"Not _a_ brain," Kid Flash defended, " _The_ Brain."

"In the flesh," said The Brain in a french accent _(robots can have accents?_ ), "so to speak."

He turned to the recovering gorilla expectantly, "Mallah."

Four pylons emerged from the floor, and before Penny knew it, the whole team collapsed to the ground.

 _[Miss Martian, Superboy, now!]_ Aqualad commanded.

Miss Martian used her telekinesis to float the remote Mallah had used over to the team, pressing a button to deactivate the pylons and allowing them to stand back up. Superboy bust through the wall behind The Brain and Mallah, a venom-enhanced white wolf without a collar on leaping onto Mallah.

In a series of small attacks, the team had Mallah and The Brain surrounded. Aqualad freed the nearby Captain Marvel from the restraints holding him down, who in turn removed the collar from the tiger.

Mallah the gorilla let out a roar, and though Superboy taunted him, barely restrained himself from attacking

"No Mallah, this will not be our waterloo," The Brain said, his robotic body growing some contraption, "Au revoir, mes amis."

"Get down!" Kid Flash yelled. The lights turned off.

A single light flickered back on, Mallah and the Brain both gone.

"Wait," Kid Flash said slowly, "that big weapon thing...was a light switch?"

Artemis groaned, and the team poked around the building for a bit before grouping up in the outside clearing. Miss Martian called the bioship back.

"One word: souvenir," Kid Flash announced, talking with Artemis while putting the red beret Mallah had left behind onto his head.

"Two words: gorilla lice," Artemis said and smugly watched the speedster cry out in disgust as he swiped the hat off his head.

Penny looked to her side and saw Aqualad unclasping a collar from a monkey, resulting in the primate scampering off aggressively.

"That's the last of the collars?" Captain Marvel asked the tiger. It gave a roar in reply. "And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" It roared again.

"Good," Captain Marvel continued, petting it, "I'll be back for a visit. I promise."

The tiger bounded off, and the Captain remarked, "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny."

Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy and the wolf that Superboy seemed to have befriended were now gathered together in a conversation. Once finished, they headed over to the bioship.

"Look, I need to know," Robin stopped Aqualad from entering, "why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"

The whole team watched expectantly. The atlantean consented, "the source of the tip was Sportsmaster."

"What?" Artemis cried in outrage, "you can't trust him!"

"I do not. It seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the team with false information."

"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded," Robin pointed out, "but you had to consider it might be true."

"Yes, as leader I did," Aqualad answered, "in which case I did not wish to alert the traitor."

Robin thought about it, "I hate to say it, but, makes sense."

"I am still prepared to step down."

"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Kid Flash said, raising his hand. Penny raised hers along with whole team.

"Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel said, approaching Aqualad and clasping a hand on his shoulder before shaking the atlantean's hand and suddenly walking away with a wave. "See you tomorrow!"

"You're not coming back with us?" Aqualad said in surprise.

"Nah, gotta fly," and with that the Leaguer sprung into the air and left. The team watched him leave for a few seconds before filing into the bioship.

A satisfactory and silent mood filled the ship as they flew back to Mount Justice.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Very little reviews... as in only one. Kudos to for that! (And also to PrettyKitty Luvs U for being the only reviewer on chapter 12)**

 **See you on Christmas eve! (For me. For Americans it will probably be the 23rd...time zones are annoying)**


	15. The Quest for Camber P3: Crescent City

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice**

 **I may or may not have worked in some more ocs in this chapter. They shouldn't be recurring characters though, unless you guys want them to be. This is a small update for the Camber storyline, which pretty much is intertwined with the season 1 young Justice storyline by now(just wait and see!)**

 **Remember to read the ANs! Thanks for the review! Yes, just review. Not reviews. Maybe I should threaten to stop updating for while.**

 **Kidding!**

oooooooooooooooo

I'll be fine, Penny told her grandmother, who was fussing over how she would contact them while she was gone. Her grandfather held an amused expression on his face as he watched his wife worry over the hero.

"But-" Grandma started.

"Honey," Grandpa interrupted bluntly, "thank goodness you weren't home the last few times she was leaving."

"Excuse me?" said Grandma, turning to face her husband. Grandpa winked at Penny, who took the hint, grabbed her bags, and closed the door to the sound of Grandma saying, "did you just wink? How dare you! You owe-"

At this point Penny was far enough to not hear the end of the sentence through the door. She made her way to the bus stop, reaching it just as the bus pulled up and stepped on.

The journey to the train station took twenty minutes, and Penny reviewed what she knew about her current expedition in order to pass the time.

 _A little after the Rhelasia mission, the crime rate in Astro returned to normal. Unfortunately, a crime boss from Crescent City, Astro's sister city, organized a drug smuggling operation in Astro. Since he (or she) remained in Crescent the whole time, and the only way to stop the operations from continuing to take place is to get at him or her, I have to travel to Crescent. And track down him/her down from there._

The bus jerked to a halt, and Penny exited out the door once assured it was her stop.

…...

Crescent City, although the sister city of Astro, was nothing like its Italian-influenced neighbor.

For one, Penny found that there was actually traffic at 2:00 in the afternoon. Two, the central part, instead of having a large intersection that can be crossed easily if you traveled through a messily structured few blocks, it had a large public square. Called Pluto Plaza, as dubbed by the statue rising in them center of it with a colored sculpture of the planet Pluto. Alliteration seemEd to be a part of Crescent City as well; another difference to add to the list.

Penny looked again at the address she had extracted from one of the criminals when she had busted up their operation: _11 Pluto Drive, 4th floor._

 _At least it's not alliterated._

She shoved her way through the crowd, checking the names of the streets around the plaza's perimeter. _Solar Street, Plaza Road, Main Street. Some real imaginative names here. Aha! Pluto Dri-_

"Hey!"

Someone rocketed past Penny, almost knocking her over. A bald man with tattoos standing panting shouted at the spy, "stop that thief!"

Penny stared wide-eyed after the hoodie-wearing form dashing away from her destination, then gave chase. The culprit turned onto Plaza Road, and despite their head start, Penny was catching up. They made a sharp turn into an alley, the air blowing the hood of their jacket down to reveal a hint of shoulder-length, curly black hair covering the face, a red cap with the yellow logo of Crescent City's baseball team, the Crescent Moons, perched on their head.

Penny remembered that Camber had a hat like that. Camber had loved the Crescent Moons.

Camber also had shoulder-length, curly black hair that tended to cover her face when looked at from the side.

But...Camber was dead, wasn't she?

The thief disappeared into the alley, Penny's observation taking place within the span of a second.

Penny was immediately at the alley, turning the corner and skidding to a halt so as not to crash into the trapped thief. It was a dead end.

 _Camber_? Penny mouthed, nonexistent voice failing to leave her lips.

The thief turned to face Penny slowly, body tense and not having seen Penny's silent question. It was a girl's face.

But she wasn't Camber.

Shockingly blue eyes, narrowed in wariness. Full american features. The hair could now be identified as having a wave rather than a curl, with dyed red tips. Absence of dorky glasses, looks about 14 years old.

But she wasn't Camber back from the dead( again).

Nor was she holding anything. None of the pockets of her jacket were bulging. _What could this girl have stolen?_ The girls eyed each other for a full minute before the supposed thief spoke.

"Well?" she asked. Penny shook her thoughts aside and forced herself to react. She motioned for the thief to give her whatever she could have possibly stolen. The girl raised her eyebrow, relaxing her stance, "I didn't actually steal anything. That guy was-"

She suddenly tensed again, looking past Penny with startled eyes, "-behind you!"

Penny felt the rush of the crowbar towards her head and reflexively grabbed it with both hands, twisting her body to face the tattooed man who had sent Penny after the girl and simultaneously yanking the crowbar (plus him) towards herself. As he was unbalanced and falling forwards, she swiftly kneed him in the jaw, successfully knocking him out. He dropped to the ground, and Penny whirled to face the girl again.

"Woah," the girl rasped. Penny stared at her transformed eyes: once a bright cobalt blue, the irises had changed to a dull sandy yellow, the pupils a slit-like shape, creating a snake-like effect.

Penny blinked again to make sure she wasn't seeing things. If she was seeing things, that would explain mistaking the girl for Camber- the girl noticed her stare and the change was immediate. The snake-eyes returned to the previous blue, with normal pupils.

The girl cleared her throat awkwardly and swept her arms in a frantic and wide gesture, "you saw nothing! Nothing at-"

"Nicole, I got your distress signal! Backup has arrived!" an older boy with shaggy red hair ran into the alley, nearly tripping over the unconscious bald man and narrowing his brown eyes at Penny, "Hey, _you're_ not Nicole..."

"Kevin! Why did it have to be you?" the girl-Nicole-groaned, facepalming.

"Oh, there you are Nicky!" He exclaimed, peering around Penny, "if I'd gone to the wrong alley, I swear-"

"That you'd be 'eternally sorry for getting me killed'?" Nicole finished for him, "yeah, you promised that the last thirty times you _nearly_ messed something up. And don't call me Nicky."

Excuse me, Penny signed, what is going on?

"Er…" Nicole responded, "nothing that you should bother about, quick reflexes or no quick reflexes."

"Hey, was that sign language?" Kevin asked Penny, but before she could even nod her head he switched his attention to Nicole, "I didn't know you knew sign language."

"I don't!' Nicole said exasperatedly, eyeing the unconscious man, "it's one of my, er, you-know-what's."

"Powers?" Kevin queried obliviously.

"Oh, shut up Kevin! You have no stealth whatsoever!" the girl shouted.

"Actually…"

 _These two are worse than Artemis and Kid Flash! But, did I just stumble onto a metahuman?_

It's fine, Penny abruptly 'said', what could I possibly do to you with the knowledge you have powers?

"Report us to the authorities?" Nicole suggested.

"Now who doesn't have stealth?" Kevin muttered under his breath.

Why would I do that? Penny asked.

"Because they would want to know about kids with powers running rampant in Crescent?" Nicole said as if the answer were obvious. Penny noted that she said 'kids' rather than 'a kid'. Maybe Nicole knew a few others, and/or Kevin was one as well. "Besides, we can't have _them_ knowing our location. Though it looks like one already found us."

She pointed to the bald man, who let out a groan and stirred.

"Yikes!" Kevin exclaimed, kicking the man in the head. The poor guy was going to have a lot of bruises when he woke up.

He's a police officer? Penny asked dubiously.

"No, of course not. He's one of _them_ ," Nicole repeated her emphasis on the 'them'.

Who's 'them'? Penny asked.

"The enemies of the Kin. We don't really have a proper name for them," Kevin replied. Both Penny and Nicole stared at him, and once he noticed he replied, "well, I know some sign language. And based off the context of the conversation it's not hard to guess what you're saying."

"That one moment where the doofus of the group is actually sorta not a doofus," Nicole stated dryly, not allowing Penny to ponder what 'the Kin' meant.

"I'm not dumb, you know!" Kevin protested, "I'm just-"

"Laying it on too thick?" a new voice suggested. The three teenagers turned with a start to see at a girl lounging against the wall next to Nicole, who yelped in surprise. The girl had the same reddish-brown hair as Kevin, but hers reached down to her shoulders and was wavy instead of shaggy. She wore classic aviator goggles pulled up, and had a small smile suspiciously similar to the goofy grin Kevin had offered to Nicole earlier.

"No! Rosa, I am being strategic. If the enemy thinks I'm dumb, they'll underestimate me!" Kevin whined.

"Great plan," Rosa said sarcastically, "if it were possible to underestimate you."

Kevin's frown turned into a wicked grin, "that was a lie!"

"So?" Rosa asked, not missing a beat, "most jokes are lies. You don't need powers to see the obvious."

Kevin lost his smile and groaned. Penny really had no idea what was going on. She decided she probably didn't want to know.

So, I believe my service is no longer needed here, Penny signed, I'm just going to go back to what I was doing before...helping a bunch of metahumans.

"Oh, yeah, we'll be fine. Since you obviously aren't going to turn us in or anything," Nicole responded awkwardly, "you can just leave us alone. Please."

"Wait, you know sign language?" Rosa asked Nicole. The black-haired girl rolled her eyes a muttered something inaudible.

Well, bye, Penny said, backing out of the alley into the empty Plaza Road. When only Nicole acknowledged her departure while Rosa and Kevin argued about something completely unrelated to the topic from two seconds ago, Penny felt free to leave the weird situation and resume her investigation. After all, how much trouble could the group get into?

After a short minute, Penny located 11 Pluto Drive. It looked like any other apartment building on the street, four floors high, a greyish color to the walls and clean white window frames. She entered and began climbing up the stairs carrying her bags until she reached the fourth floor. With a knock to the door, she waited impatiently for it to open.

Nothing happened. She knocked again, and ended up with the same result. With a reluctant sigh, she tried the doorknob and was surprised to find it unlocked.

Penny cautiously entered the small apartment. There was no furniture anywhere she looked. In the living room area, all there was was a typical apartment phone on a lone table next to the open window. Light streamed into the room, highlighting dozens of small dust particles floating through the air.

Penny walked straight up to the table, one you would normally find used as a nightstand, despite her instincts screaming 'trap'. Carved into the wood next to the phone was:

 _11 Pluto Drive 4th floor …-..._

Penny stared at the address. She recognized the '...-...' as SOS, through morse code, but what was the address of the apartment doing there?

She had the feeling it had nothing to do with the mysterious drug smuggler she had been tracking down.

 _Let's see: an SOS, a signal for help. But that's after the apartment address. Why would they carve the address into the table, if they wanted help? They possibly sent the address to me through the smuggler's henchmen. Why would they write it here?_

Penny took another look at the address. Nothing special, other than…

She suddenly remembered the way addresses were usually written down in Astro City. The floor number would usually come before the address, and although it isn't always written that way, that's the way Penny was used to it. She assumed the order was normally the same in Astro City's neighbor as well.

 _So the order of the numbers means something? Translated to the alphabet, it would be AA and D. Not the most meaningful order of things. AAD..._

…

….!

Penny glanced at the phone. The numbers on the pad each had three letters under them. For 1, it had A, B, and C, while for 4 it had G, H, and I. _So what; ABI, ACH, BAG...? I don't think any of the possible combinations hold any value to me either._

Penny scowled at the dead end of the mystery. It all seemed like a wild goose chase. She huffed, glared at the annoying sunlight and promptly closed the curtains. Closing her eyes, she felt the darkness fill the room before she snapped them open again and turned away from the table, ready to leave.

It was the still-present and faint light that made her realize the table was glowing.

Penny turned back around, not having taken a step, and knelt back over the carving in the wood. Thin glowing white lines were now visible, one leading from the 11 to the 4, with a plus sign next to it. There was another glowing plus sign squished narrowly between the two 1's of the 11.

 _Add 1 and 1, makes 2. Add 2 to 4, makes 6. 6 on the number pad has M, N, and O. So I possibly have two 1's and a 6. Possible combinations with the 6 as the last one are: BAM, ABO, BAN, CAN…_

 _CAM._

 _As in Camber? It could be...then the message would essentially be Camber asking for help. Didn't know she was one for codes. Then again, it's been seven years._

 _Oh, who am I kidding? It's not Camber. Robin, protege to the world's greatest detective, told me she was dead. I was visited by a look-alike, or...a clone like Superboy(though why would someone want to clone Camber?). Ignore it. It's clearly a wild goose chase. I came here to track down a drug smuggler, and my lead's gone dead._

Penny growled, throwing the curtains open again so she wouldn't bump into the doorframe on her way out, and turned to face the door. She dropped her jaw at the three letters etched in solid black marker above the doorframe, strategically placed so she would put see them until she left:

 _B E R_

She immediately connected the dots:

CAM …-... (SOS) BER

CAMBER

oooooooooooooooooooooo

 **I feel like everyone was getting interrupted in this chapter during the scene with the OCs. Also, I think Penny's cold was miraculously healed.**

 **Who wants the OCs to come back again? I would have explained more on their situation, but A) the chapter would have been ridiculously long, and B) it would have focused on them more than Penny's predicament. I could totally do a spinoff, but since they don't relate to deeply into Young Justice, it would probably just be their origin story and a one-shot after Penny's encounter with them.**

 **R &R?**

 **I'll still try to get the next episode up this saturday(according to my time zone, I've been on a streak for every Saturday for posting)**


	16. Revelation P1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice**

 **Yes, more metas. But I did say they weren't going to be featured much. Last chapter was pretty weird, if I do say so myself.**

 **Here's Revelation!**

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Penny got no more hints of life or calls for help from Camber since her trip to Crescent City. Her friend had again disappeared without a trace. The group of metahumans she had encountered didn't seem to have anything to do with the message. A coincidence, but she noted it anyways.

With the feeling that she wouldn't get a proper lead on Camber's whereabouts for a while, Penny turned her attention back to the team and visited the Cave. After an hour, Batman entered through the zeta-tube.

 **[Recognized: Batman, 0-2]**

Wally, Artemis, Superboy, Wolf, and Miss Martian, having recently entered the room, turned along with Aqualad and Robin, who had ceased their spar, as well as Captain Marvel and Zatara, all turned to watch him stride to the middle of the room.

"Computer, national news," Batman ordered. A holographic screen appeared, showing Cat Grant on television.

"The initial attack was short-lived," she was saying as the camera showed large vines grasping buildings, "but metropolis was only granted a short reprieve."

On the screen, the thick vines tightened their grip, bursting the building apart under their pressure.

"And despite the intervention of Superman _and_ the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight," she continued.

"Should we get out there?" Robin asked as the team watched the attempts of the Justice Leaguers.

"No," Batman said, "the League will soon have the situation under control, that's not why I'm here. According to your Intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra-Venom!" Wally started.

"Which The Brain used to create his animal army-" Robin continued.

"And upgrade Wolf," Conner added, rubbing the wolf in question.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary," M'gann finished.

"Batman," Artemis said, "is it possible that plant-thingy's on Kobra-Venom, too?"

"I had Green Lantern run a spot-analysis. The vine's cellulose _does_ contain trace amounts of a Kobra-Venom variant," he confirmed. _Just how many times is this formula gonna get changed?_

"These can not be coincidences," Aqualad expanded, "unrelated criminals cooperating with one another _worldwide_."

"Exactly," Batman stated gravely, "it's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of...secret society of supervillains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"You got that right," Robin piped up from next to Penny. He was messing with the holo-computer on his wrist, "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-"

The images popping up on the holographic display simultaneously buzzed with static, interrupting Robin.

"Dude!" Wally accused.

"It's not me!" the Boy Wonder defended, "someone's cutting into the satellite signal- _all_ satellite signals!"

The static disappeared, replaced with the face of the infamous Joker, "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem...to bring you _this_ important announcement-" Joker casually fllicked out his knife and moved the camera to face a group of supervillains standing in the empty dark grey space, "-from the _In_ justice League."

The group was composed of Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Wotan, Ultra-Humanite, the Atomic Skull, and Black Adam. Joker was obviously a part of their league, but out of frame.

" _We_ are responsible for the attacks on your cities," Count Vertigo said, "if you wish to save them, a ransom of 10 billion american dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit. But, the longer your governments wait…"

Joker swiveled the screen back to himself and finished the sentence with laughter, "the more we get to have our _jollies._ "

As the screen returned to static, Batman accessed his comm, "roger that Aquaman, the UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback. But it _won't_ come to that."

Robin began typing madly on his holo-computer, Penny and the rest of the team peering over his shoulder. The stream was brought back up again on the large hologram in the center of the room, playing backwards.

"Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, _Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan,_ " Robin counted, voice raising in emphasis, " _seven_ heavy-hitters. Probably behind nearly everything and everyone we've faced!"

 _Yikes,_ Penny thought. Wally spoke, "there's your secret society."

"Not so secret anymore," Artemis remarked.

"Perhaps after India," Kaldur mused, "they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer."

"Yeah?" Wally smirked, "that was their mistake. Right now, I say we go kick some plant creature butt!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman said, cutting off any possible reactions from the team, "I have a different job for this team."

 _Wait a second-_ "Aww man," Wally pouted. Artemis whacked him on the arm.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system," Batman continued, "Your mission is to destroy it."

 _He_ is _actually giving us that assignment!_ Zatara walked up to Batman. "You realize what you're _really_ asking them to do."

"They're ready," Batman confirmed.

"Ready?" asked Wally, ever-oblivious, "ready for what?"

Artemis punched him again, and he retorted, "will you cut that-"

"Hello Wally!" Artemis told him, "if the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think _we'll_ be fighting?"

"I don't know! I guess we'll-" Artemis pointed at the Injustice League, " _*gasp*_ _ooohhh_."

"Well, Batman," Zatara relented, "I trust you're correct."

"I trust _you_ can locate the enemy," Batman replied expectantly.

"Indeed. Wotan's involvements and sorceries* are parts of how the plants are controlled. Robin, if you would provide a holo-map."

Robin immediately obeyed, and a holographic globe popped into the room. Zatara approached it, then said an incantation. A red dot appeared on the globe, "There! That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked in," Robin announced, "the Louisiana bayou."

"We're on our way," Kaldur said, leading the team towards the hangar. Captain Marvel was called back by Batman, but nobody hung around to see why.

…...

"What's in the duffel?" Kid Flash asked Aqualad.

"Plan B," replied the team leader quietly.

They were over the bayou already, keeping an eye out for the Injustice League's headquarters. Penny had no idea what was in the bag at Aqualad's feet. She straightened her posture and peeked into her belt to double check that she had her explosives and grappling hook(which she had gotten from Robin. Surprisingly, it wasn't bat(or anything)-themed). Luckily she had fixed her invisibility belt...again. And made it waterproof. With a rebreather along with that, just in case.

"Uh!" Miss Martian suddenly groaned.

"You alright?" Superboy looked at her with concern.

"Dizzy," Miss Martian said.

"Martians get airsick?" Robin asked.

"She _does_ look a bit greener than usual," Kid Flash noted.

"Not me," Miss Martian moved her head towards the floor, "her."

 _Which her?_ Penny thought, sharing a confused look with Artemis.

"The bioship!" Miss Martian said, "she's trying to shield us!"

 _What? Oh, duh. Count Vert-?_ Something hit the bioship, sending it flying forwards. Everyone braced themselves as the ship seemingly crashed into the ground, skipping across the surface before coming to a stop...and floating. Penny saw water through the windows.

The bioship jerked again, and large vines pressed against the windows, dragging the bioship down. _Okay, nice. Underwater. Fun._

"He's hurting her," Miss Martian said. Superboy let out a roar and punched the now-visible Black Atom away from the bioship where the villain had torn a small hole. Water soon was pouring through the hole.

"No!" Artemis cried out, grabbing something, " _no way_ I'm nearly drowning three missions in a row!"

Penny thanked herself for being fed up with a water-vulnerable invisibility belt and pulled out her rebreather, putting it on and diving under the water. Miss Martian opened a hatch, and Aqualad order via mindlink: _[Out! Everyone, out!]_

Penny happily obliged, following Superboy with Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis close behind. A little later, they surfaced from the marshy lake with a view of the bioship getting dunked underwater. Penny stopped trying to squeeze the water out of her hair at the sight.

"She's in shock!" Miss Martian remarked, "she'll need time to recover."

Suddenly, a piercing pain thudded into Penny's skull. The team collapsed, all holding their heads.

"Vertigo," someone said.

"Count Vertigo to you, peasant," came the reply. Penny managed to look up, and she saw Superboy get rammed by Black Atom into the woods. Count Vertigo's headgear was turned off, and Penny immediately switched on her invisibility belt. Aqualad got up and sent a stream of water at Vertigo, knocking him away. Penny climbed to her feet.

 _[Robin, Miss Martian, Glance,]_ Aqualad ordered, _[disappear! We'll keep them busy. You three fulfill the mission objective!]_

 _Already disappeared,_ Penny thought, mildly amused but not sharing her thought for fear it would be a distraction. She followed Robin into the woods. The only sign of Miss Martian being present was the sound of her breath next to Penny. Within a minute, the sounds of fighting disappeared into the distance. Robin brought up his holo-computer.

 _[I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,]_ Miss Martian said, _[should we-]_

 _[Sorry, that's not the gig,]_ Robin interrupted. Penny wished she had night vision on her mask. In fact, she was thinking a lot of upgrades to her tech were still due. Robin turned his holo-computer off, _[this is.]_

He pushed a large fern aside so the girls could clearly see the domed structure. A humongous plant sprouted from the base's center, light glowing through the glass.

 _[The Injustice League central control system,]_ Robin said smugly, _[looks like that plant's acting as an antenna for other plants worldwide.]_

Penny was about to make a comment when a feminine voice greeted, "Well _hello_!"

As they turned, they were snared in vines. Miss Martian turned visible. Poison Ivy stared them down, smiling in victory as her plants raised them into the air. Penny could hardly move. Ultra-Humanite jumped into view beside Ivy, aiming a gun at them.

"And _goodbye_ …"

ooooooooooooooooooo

 ***** _ **I couldn't understand what Zatara was saying in this part mostly because of his accent, so the resulting sentence is a little weird. Nothing noticeable, though.**_

 _ **Merry Christmas!**_


	17. Revelation P2

**Disclaimer: Hi. I don't own Young Justice. Just putting that out there.**

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

 _As they turned, they were snared in vines. Miss Martian turned visible. Poison Ivy stared them down, smiling in victory as her plants raised them into the air. Penny could hardly move. Ultra-Humanite jumped into view beside Ivy, aiming a gun at them._

 _"And goodbye…"_

…...

Penny figured getting her brains blown out by an apeish figure while ensnared by plants was not her ideal way to die. She would rather sacrifice herself to save the world and all that jazz.

Thankfully, Miss Martian seemed to read Penny's mind and used her telekinesis to yank the bulky gun that Ultra-Humanite was holding to aim below them-rather than at their heads-just as he pulled the trigger.

How Poison Ivy could see Penny and Miss Martian when they were invisible earlier was a concerning thought for Penny, but she set it aside for when she actually had time to think. Probably can sense them through her plants or something, she figured. The important part of this meant that although Penny was now free of planty grasp and landing neatly on the marshy ground, Poison Ivy could see through her invisible guise, and _that_ meant Penny had to move before she could get speared by another plant.

Three choices. Attempt to follow Miss Martian, who had again camouflaged herself, making her harder to track and easier to lose. Follow Robin, who was very much visible, and be his backup. Or go off on her own, hopefully staying in range of Miss Martian's mindlink.

As soon as Penny's feet touched the ground, she was racing behind Robin. Miss Martian could handle Ultra-Humanite by herself, and while Penny had no doubt Robin could also take care of himself, she didn't want to take her chances of losing the mindlink and being unable to regroup. AKA Penny believed she had high chances of getting lost by herself.

"Sorry Boy Wonder," Poison Ivy called out behind them, "I'm putting an end to you and your friends' little _reconnaissance mission_."

Penny swerved to the left in order to prevent half of the vines now chasing her from hindering Robin's own escape from his plant pursuers. She jumped backwards as one struck the water in front of her, and sensing the presence of another behind her, sprung off the puddled ground in a backwards handspring, landing her hands on the large vine as it rushed where she had been and falling into a steadying crouch before immediately sliding off the plant to dodge another.

Before any other vines decided they had a grudge against Penny, she darted after Robin again, who was evading his vines in a run. After a few more pauses to avoid Ivy's plants, the duo reached a ditch with big tree trunks lying across it.

Robin ran straight across the one in front of them, but before he made it halfway or Penny could even step on, a vine smashed it. Another vine rapidly approached Penny, and while stepping away from it she lost her footing and tumbled into the ditch, splashing Robin with mud as she rolled to a halt.

She quickly spat out the mud making its home in her mouth, but in less than a second, five gigantic vines reared above the two, prepared to strike.

Just as quickly, they dissolved into nothingness when a disturbance in the air hovered in front of them.

[ _She's made contact!_ ] Miss Martian said, remaining invisible. Penny scrambled to her soggy feet at the same time Robin did.

[ _Who_?] she and Robin both asked. Although Robin did add an ' _Artemis_?' to it.

[ _Not Artemis, the bioship!_ ]

An answering _thwack_ came from the sky. Penny could just make out through the trees a dissolving golden cage; her teammates dropping to the ground and battling various members of the Injustice League.

[ _They're distracted again,_ ] Robin said, [ _time to move._ ]

Penny and Miss Martian trailed him through the marsh, giving the fight a wide berth as they made their way back around to the villains' central control system. At the pace they were going, the reached the back of it remarkably soon. Penny pulled out her grappling hook, shot it, and was flying beside Robin as they landed on the dome next to the towering plant.

Robin stayed in the back, out of sight of the battlers while he placed his bombs. Miss Martian borrowed some of his and flew to the top of the plant, and Penny sprinted to the front, sticking her own bombs in the monstrous plant. Within a minute, the plant was dotted with bombs, all set to the same timer and switch. Penny returned behind the plant and deactivated her invisibility belt. She gave Robin her thumbs up, and the instant Miss Martian returned, he pressed the button.

The plant went up in flames. Each individual (large) vine thudded to the roof in different directions. Smoke and roaring fire dominated Penny's vision.

And then the smoke around the trio cleared, they were gazing triumphantly at the slowing battle, and Robin said grimly, "Timber."

WIth a yell of rage, Poison Ivy summoned more vines from around her, sending them recklessly up to the dome. Miss Martian was quick to float in front and use her telekinesis to shred the plants.

Suddenly, a yellow beam shot Miss Martian out of the air. Penny turned her invisibility back on and skidded down and off the dome instantly. Atomic Skull aimed his attacks at Robin, and though Joker glanced around for a minute, the clown focused on Robin as well. So when Atomic Skull landed on the ground where Robin and the recovering Miss Martian were, Penny was swift in dealing a roundhouse kick to the back of the unsuspecting criminal's head. Luckily and despite his helmet, he was knocked out.

"Enough!" Wotan commanded, rising above the combatants. He was answered with a few birdarangs from Robin. Penny was going to aid Kid Flash and Artemis with Count Vertigo, but the wizard sent out blue lightning, and she was suddenly writhing in the water, pinned by electricity.

For a good minute, the only think Penny could think about was pushing herself out of the water, resisting the force of Wotan's magic-and then she was free, gasping with water streaming out of her hair and soaked and free( though this was already noted).

"The helmet of Fate!" Wotan said in…wonder? Aqualad was holding the golden helmet Penny had seen once resting in Wally's souvenir collection and the only thought she had at this moment was: _so that's which mission that was from._

"Aqualad _no_!" cried out Kid Flash, before getting smacked into a tree violently by Black Adam*, who was in turn punched by Superboy. And then Aqualad was replaced by Dr. Fate, golden and blue-clad.

"Wotan, you are mine!" Dr. Fate/Aqualad said, engaging battle. _Focus Penny,_ she told herself, climbing to her feet and tensing for battle. _This isn't the time to be thinking slowly._

Penny was again thankful her belt was waterproof and proceeded to look for anyone in need of help. Her eyes landed on Robin first, being swiped at by the Joker with a knife, but he was too far away.

Vines burst of of the water, shooting straight into the empty sky. _Miss Martian_. Penny waded through the marsh, heading for the concentrating Poison Ivy.

"I can't see you, martian, but perhaps I'll hear you scream!" she was saying. Count Vertigo reached Ivy before Penny did, and while Penny knew that if she took out one the other had the power to retaliate quicker than she could then take them out, she leapt at Vertigo first. Miss Martian would help her with Ivy afterwards.

"And perhaps I could be of some assist-"

 _Punch_. She went straightforward and solid. Ivy gasped in surprise and jutted her hands towards Penny, her vines like heat-seeking missiles avenging Penny's proud accomplishment of one unconscious Vlatavan count.

Penny was scraped in the leg by one while dodging them, but then Miss Martian came to the rescue, obliterating the vines before she could accumulate more. Artemis appeared, knocking Poison Ivy out as well.

"Oh come on, Glance!" Kid Flash hissed in a whisper as he halted next Count Vertigo and tore off a piece of his cape, "I wanted to do that!"

Artemis snatched the cloth out of his hands and promptly wrapped the arm he was treating tenderly in a sling.

"That's my souvenir!" Kid Flash protested, but the archer was already done tying the knot.

Penny looked at the battle, but the only thing she saw was a heap of white flying towards them. She tackled Artemis to the ground, preventing the blonde from getting squashed under Wolf, and then dragged her back to her feet because Ultra-Humanite was barreling towards the trio. Kid Flash ducked the first punch and Penny left Artemis to secure her footing and landed a series of jabs, kicks, and punches on the ape, easily dodging any clumsy resistance(it helped that she was still invisible) until a kick to the jaw dazed him enough for her to catch her breath. Gosh, was he strong.

The feud between Dr. Fate and Wotan still went on in the sky, but without warning, Wotan was shot out of commission by a separate gold bolt of magic, coming from...Zatara!

The whole Justice League seemed to be flying in. Cavalry's here! And then it was remarkably quick; Ultra-Humanite recovered from his daze and backed into the collecting group as Hawkman and Hawkwoman cut off his route of escape. The Leaguers assembled in a rough circle around the Injustice League. And the supervillains were beaten.

"It's over," Batman said.

The majority of the criminals raised their hands up in defeat. Count Vertigo growled, "there will be another day."

"Another day? Another day!?" Joker cackled out in mad laughter, furious, "there won't be another day! Not for any of us!"

Penny tensed as Batman's nemesis brought his hands up as if controlling marionettes, the gloves with an odd design on them moving up and down as one last vine emerged from the marshy water, red thorns morphing into buds that burst into clouds of green gas.

"Joker Venom spores!" Batman announced, "don't breathe!"

And Penny gladly obeyed as the Bat punched Joker out cold. Dying from laughter wasn't on her list of preferred ways to die, either.

"Fear not!" assured Dr. Fate/Aqualad. He rose above the spewing clouds and created a golden ankh that sucked in all the Venom. Not a trace was left. "Fate has intervened!"

 _Is that his catch-phrase? It can totally be a cheesy, annoying, catch-phrase._ Literally everyone stared at Dr. Fate in silence; villains in subdued acceptance, heroes in odd relief.

...…...

"What were you thinking?!" Kid Flash yelled, " _how could you let him put on the helmet?_ Nabu will never release him now. Kaldur will be trapped inside Dr. Fate forever."

Penny was aware that Nabu was the mystic presence/lord of order residing inside the Helmet of Fate. It was obvious to her that Nabu was the one controlling the body wearing the helmet. Will Nabu release Kaldur? He released Wally(yes, she heard about that mission. She isn't _completely_ in the dark about the missions she missed out on).

Just to spite Kid Flash's expectations Dr. Fate lifted off his helmet, and Aqualad returned.

Okay, maybe it wasn't to spite Wally. Dr. Fate likely wasn't childish. But a girl could imagine, couldn't she?

"Nabu let you go?" The speedster asked quietly, walking up to Aqualad.

"He almost did not," Aqualad answered with a small smile, "but your friend Kent was most helpful. He says hello."

Kid Flash treated Aqualad to a large grin. Penny tore her eyes from the scene and watched the last of the Injustice League villains be carted off. She was visible, and now aware of the full extent of the mission. She had a scrape on her leg showing through a tear in her tights in that same spot from the more pointy of Ivy's plants, but it wasn't very serious. Just long and pretty shallow. Even so, Robin had insisted on cleaning and wrapping her leg with gauze. Otherwise, her costume was more brown than black, and there was potentially water in her upbeat from when she put the grappling hook back in, and she was really sore, signaling the arrival of bruises in the morning. That was pretty much the extent of her injuries. She counted herself lucky.

"We're done here," Batman stated, "the supervillains' secret society has been neutralized."

He looked at the gathered team, continuing, "as for your performance…"

 _Oh, this again. I hope it was good, because I don't recall anyone arguing._

"It was satisfactory."

 _Phew_. The team grinned at each other(mostly Kid Flash doing the _grinning_ ) and returned their gaze to Batman as he continued, releasing them to the bioship to return to the cave.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

* **How embarrassing. I think I called him Black Atom last chapter. My bad.**

 **IMPORTANT: I'm going to be on vacation for a few weeks(long vacation, I know) so it's possible I won't have the chance to work on this story. No doubt I'll have days where I have nothing planned, but don't get your hopes up for the next few chapters to be on time.**


	18. Humanity P1

**I'm back from vacation! Yay! I should be doing my regular schedule again.**

 **Disclaimer: dunno why I still do these. But on this subject, I don't own Young Justice. Just SOME of the plot of this story, my OCs, and the surprise chapter I'm going to post after this episode(however many parts it may have).**

 **Oh, wait. I think I just gave away the surprise. At least I didn't tell you it was completely in Camber's POV.**

 **Hold on a second….**

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Penny had been sending a lot more time in the Cave. She was mulling over what she needed to improve, and concerning Robin, Penny had noticed she tended to stick to him like glue in some of the Team's missions. Maybe it was because she knew he knew what he was doing and could depend on him, or she just didn't work well with the others. In fact, she hardly knew anyone on the team with the exception of M'gann, who was remarkably open and friendly.

Penny guessed this habit was because in Astro City, she worked alone. She would spend her nights tracking down the latest major criminal threat and eradicating it. She still wasn't used to a team, and that was because she never tried to get used to it.

She would have to work on that.

 **[Recognized: Kid Flash, B-0-3]**

The instant Wally walked through the zeta-tune, Captain Marvel appeared at the speedster's side. Wally whispered something, and the Captain flew off. Wally, dressed in civvies and a cast for his broken arm, plopped down in the lounge chair he had used yesterday. And the day before. And so on. Penny rolled her unmasked eyes and returned her attention to the sparring match between Robin and Artemis. Another between Miss Martian and Aqualad had recently started.

Wolf trotted next to Penny, pausing to look at the fight as well. Superboy wasn't far behind. Penny rubbed Wolf behind his ears and along his neck for a minute, and then the Venom-enhanced animal walked off, curling next to Wally's chair and table. Sphere was nowhere in sight.

Captain Marvel came back, tropical-looking yellow drink in hand. He bent over Wally and handed it to him, announcing, "Pineapple juice."

A long and obnoxious slurp distracted Penny from Robin and Artemis's spar.

"Ahhh, _just_ what the doctor ordered," Wally said in satisfaction. Penny tried desperately to ignore the unsavory usage of Captain Marvel's attention.

"How's the arm doing, Wally?" he was saying.

"Nothing wrong nachos can't cure," was the manipulating response.

"Nachos? Oh! I'll go get you some!"

Artemis got a good hit on Robin and he landed on the ground hard. A red, bold, 'fail' popped up. Penny soaked in the technique the archer had used for later experimentation.

"Good work everyone," Black Canary praised, striding into the room. "in fact, it's been a very productive week."

The fights ceased and the team gathered casually around her. Penny could feel the question on the tip of their tongues. A query needling their consciousnesses.

Instead of the question, Artemis quipped while motioning to the slurping Wally, "yeah, for everyone except Kid _Malingerer_."

"Hey! Arm broken in combat against the _Injustice League_ here!" Wally defended indignantly. Gesturing with _both_ arms. Black Canary chuckled.

"I really enjoyed being your, uh, 'den mother' this week," she stated good-naturedly.

 **[Recognized: Zatara, 1-1]**

The magician barely glanced at the awaiting heroes, diverting his attention immediately to swiping open the holographic zeta-tube control panel and typing something in.

 **[Access granted: Zatanna Zatara, A-0-3. Authorization: Zatara, 1-1]**

"Zatanna, this is the team," Zatara told the girl emerging from the teleporter. She had long black hair and wore an outfit similar to her father's; the classic black and white of a stage magician with a skirt. "Team, my daughter, Zatanna."

 _Wait, are we gaining another member?_ Penny thought at the same time that M'gann greeted Zatanna with a, "Hi! I'm-"

Robin sprang in from of the martian, interrupting her, "Robin!" He cleared his throat and needlessly clarified, " _I'm_ Robin."

He continued introducing the team, "She's Megan, that's Wally, Artemis, Penny, Kaldur, and Conner."

They dipped their heads in acknowledgment as their names were called. Kaldur said, "Welcome to the Cave."

"Uh, thanks," Zatanna responded uncertainly.

"So, uh, ah-are y-you juh-joining the team?" Robin queried eagerly. Penny had never heard him stutter that much before. Was it possible that he liked Zatanna? As in, more than normal? _Well, anything's possible. And it isn't very far-fetched that he would actually-_

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara intervened hastily, "This is strictly a visit. But I am sorry we missed the training-" he turned to Black Canary, "-it's something from which Zatanna could benefit."

Penny was distracted by the mindlink securing its place in her head.

[ _Do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?]_ M'gann asked.

 _[No kidding,]_ Penny agreed, [ _the league, too. It doesn't make sense- we completely handled the Injustice League!]_

 _[What are they, keeping an eye on us? Why?]_ Wally frowned.

 _[Because of the Red Tornado incident?]_ Conner's voice(thoughts, whatever) was strained at the suggestion.

 _[They obviously haven't made much progress with that case,]_ Robin noted, irritated. Wally moved as if he was about to add something, but Conner was faster(somehow).

 _[Well they should try harder! That machine almost got Me-all of us killed!]_ Conner gestured angrily.

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatanna abruptly asked. She wore an annoyed look, and Penny realized the magician's daughter had been getting more and more annoyed the longer the team ignored their guest. Black Canary and Zatara looked over at the assembled teenagers. "Because I can't decide if that's cool or, heh, really rude."

Upon seeing the Leaguers' gazes bore into his skull, Conner sighed and relented, "Alright, fine. We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack, and the League hasn't told us anything!"

"The League is searching for tornado," Black Canary started, "as well as the other androids that invaded the Cave, and their creator T. O. Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."

"But you found none of the above," Robin accused, stepping forward.

"Not yet," Black Canary admitted, "But Tornado is Justice League. The Team is _not_ to pursue this."

"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of...the Cave," Zatara suggested, intervening. His voice faltered as he realized his daughter was not in sight. Robin moved out of the magician's line of sight at the same time Penny looked at the happily growling Wolf where Zatanna was petting the mutated canine.

"You're giving a tour?" asked Captain Marvel as he entered the room. He carried Wally's requested nachos. Wolf jumped up to greet him. "Cool!"

"Actually, I was hoping you'd take wolf outside," Conner said, face betraying nothing, "he needs the exercise. We'll join you in a few."

"Sure, sure!" Captain Marvel took the bait, "I can do that. Come on Wolf!"

The mystical hero exited, followed eagerly by Conner's loyal companion. Wally spluttered in protest at the departure of his nachos, but was silenced when Conner dragged him out of the room, the rest of the team trailing. Zatara and Black Canary were happily oblivious to the unspoken plan that the proteges had formed.

As they passed the kitchen, Zatanna caught up to Robin. At his baffled words, Penny turned to see that Zatanna had somehow changed her outfit. She now wore a lavender tank-top and khakis.

"We're not really taking a tour, are we?" she asked, ignoring Robin. Penny bumped into Kaldur when he and Conner stopped walking, as she had still been looking at Zatanna.

"No," Conner replied, "we're hunting down that robot."

Penny backed a little bit away from Kaldur as he replied, "yes. We are."

"Oh, wow, out loud and everything," Zatanna remarked.

"What about New Girl?" Artemis asked.

"I'm sure she won't tell," Robin scoffed.

"I can't tell," Zatanna said. She had the look in her eyes that Penny only ever saw in Wally's right before he did something that got him tracked down by Artemis, bow and arrow in hand. Penny was sure Robin got that look sometimes as well, but with sunglasses and a mask, she couldn't prove it. "Not if you kidnap me."

There was a beat of silence before Artemis noted, "oh, she's gonna fit in great."

…...

They sat in silence as they left Mount Justice in the bioship. It didn't take long for Black Canary to notice their escapade-though the League member had no idea it was that.

" **M'gann, the bioship wasn't authorized for departure,"** BC's voice came over the comm link, or whatever was installed into the bioship.

"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" Miss Martian burst out brightly. She quickly corrected herself with, "to...show her Happy Harbor! Be back soon!"

" **Er, roger that. Have fun,"** the Leaguer replied uncertainly. The transmission ended with a beep. Another minute passed, and Robin was the first to speak.

"Where are we going? Batman is the world's greatest detective, and he searched for Tornado and Morrow in every _logical_ location. If we're going to do better, we need an illogical solution." he looked behind himself at Kid Flash, "A truly dumb idea."

At this point the rest of the team, including Zatanna, caught on and looked expectantly at the speedster.

"As a matter of fact…"

…...

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break," Miss Martian told the man sitting at the bare grey table in front of the team, "he's given us five minutes with you."

Apparently the man was Professor Ivo, creator of AMAZO, which had been one of the missions that Penny missed. The android could replicate powers, Penny recalled.

"Spill Ivo," Superboy demanded, "how do we find T. O. Morrow and his Reds?"

"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo asked.

"Because," Kid Flash answered, "(and here's a truly dumb idea) you're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game- who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?"

"Ah," Ivo responded, neatly pulling his hands to touch each other as he straightened his posture, "I see your point. So let me rephrase: why in the world would I _tell_ you how to find Morrow?"

"He knows," Aqualad confirmed, addressing Miss Martian next, "do what you must."

The martian complied, but Ivo simply laughed and crossed his arms, "oh, please. As if I've never faced a telepath before."

Zatanna leaned beside him, speaking a string of indecipherable words. Her voice had an odd echo to it.

"Morrow's in his secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park 100 meters south of Old Faithful," Ivo spouted in monotone. A second later he covered his mouth and stared at the astounded teens, "wait! What just happened?"

Well, Penny signed, that was surprisingly easy.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Hopefully this is evenly split- I seem to have a habit of keeping the first part shorter than the second. I might have gone longer, but this was a decent place to end it. No action, though, so I'm baffled as to how I got almost 2,000 words. Seriously, no action. Next chapter's gonna be crazy, I guess.**

 **On another topic, not much of my own plot in this story, or even character-wise I haven't made anyone get mad at Penny, nor has any of her actions truly gotten the team into trouble. It's a little late in the series for that, but I'll try to do so, else it could be rather uninteresting. I feel like at this point you guys are probably more interested in Camber :D**

 **Thanks to all who've favorited, followed, and reviewed! Not in that order!**


	19. Humanity P2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, the idea of fanmade stories about existing characters, or the planet Jupiter. That last one is unrelated. Completely.**

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Block out all external communication," Aqualad ordered. The bioship flew swiftly towards their destination. "Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too I imagine, will know of our _visit_ with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Look," Robin piped up with a weak chuckle, "I'm trying to be all _nonchalant_ here-"

"Why?" Zatanna interupted, "be as chalant as you like."

 _Now that's a girl after Robin's heart,_ Penny thought with a small smirk. Artemis contributed, "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers. Could you...teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender-?"

"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna joked, "Zatara couldn't even do all that, and I'm _nowhere near_ on my dad's level. I need to know a spell _cold_ , or else have time to prep it! Plus, all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."

"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?" Superboy cut in angrily, "I'm _way_ past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Aqualad asked.

"Aren't you?"

"I am not convinced," the atlantean replied, "and even so, that makes him but the victim to his creator's programming. Certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon other designed him to be."

Penny could easily tell that was a direct yet reasonable strike at Superboy's origin. Aqualad was comparing the situations, giving Tornado the benefit of the doubt. It at least succeeded in causing Superboy to back down a bit as the clone returned his attention to the flight. Penny sank into her seat as the room fell silent.

…

"Stealth mode," Aqualad reminded as the bioship descended to the ground. His outfit washed over with dark grey. The rest of the team followed suit. Penny tugged her gloves on, double-checked her belt to make sure it had everything, and rotated the switch that activated her invisibility. Aqualad approached Zatanna, who was standing near the exit.

"I recommend you stay behind," he told her, eyeing the magician's rather bright outfit.

"Is that an order?" Zatanna challenged him.

"No," he replied, "you must do as you see fit."

"Good," Zatanna replied, "Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool!"

Smugly, a newly costumed Zatanna placed her hand on her hip, smiled at Aqualad, then turned around and followed Robin out the bioship. The rest of the team followed, and Zatanna was soon running next to Artemis with the boys ahead, Miss Martian behind, Robin still in the lead, and Penny trailing next to Miss Martian.

It wasn't long until the team stopped at the edge of a wide open expanse. Robin pulled up his scanner and confirmed, "Ivo was right, something's down there."

Aqualad took the lead as they ran towards the geyser, but their advance was soon hindered by powerful gales of wind. Penny leaned her whole body forwards, but to no avail as she was thrown tumbling backwards along with her teammates. She narrowly avoided landing on Artemis. Looking up, Penny's eyes widened at the sight of Red Tornado riding a, well, redish tornado with his arms crossed. The android spread his arms, resulting in tornadoes popping up in a circle around Tornado and the Team.

"Why Tornado?" Miss Martian yelled over the wind, "why are you doing this?"

Penny's eyes followed the path of the twisters. He wasn't attacking quite yet... _it_ is _a message!_

 _[Message received?]_ came Miss Martian's telepathy.

 _[Crystal clear,]_ Penny replied. She saw Superboy nod his head and yell something before charging Tornado.

"Superboy, maneuver seven!" Aqualad shouted as he joined the kryptonian, who offered him his linked hands and boosted Aqualad in a jump. Red Tornado merely smacked Aqualad back into Superboy. Penny caught on and switched her invisibility off as she joined Robin and Artemis, who shot a barrage of arrows at the robot. Tornado flung them right back at the trio.

"Look out!" Robin cried. Penny backed away, but was still caught in the resulting explosion and knocked to the ground violently. She was careful to move or open her eyes as Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Zatanna were also 'knocked out'.

A few seconds of anticipation later, the ground shook like crazy and Penny realized their attempt had failed. The group quickly got up to defend themselves as the new android crumpled the chunk of ground that had the words 'play dead' written on it apart and sent the remains zooming towards the teenagers.

Superboy and Aqualad destroyed the majority of the boulders while Miss Martian used her telekinesis to deflect as many of the strays as possible. Regardless, Penny found herself dodging a few crashing rocks. In a moment's reprieve, she took the time to switch her invisibility belt back on.

 _[Zatanna?]_ Robin had just avoided becoming a pancake with Zatanna. Penny hadn't been looking, but she assumed he was asking if she was okay.

[ _I'm okay,]_ came the reply, _[but Red Tornado's getting away!]_

Sure enough, when Penny looked, the Leaguer was flying off. Artemis asked in disbelief, [ _is he abandoning us?]_

 _[I don't believe that,]_ Miss Martian defended.

"You stand no chance against me, humans," Red Whoever said as he punched Kid Flash away.

" _We're not human!"_ Miss Martian and Superboy shouted simultaneously as they rocketed towards the robot.

"Apologies," the android snarked, ground rising in the form of hands to smash the duo, "I believe the properly inclusive term is... _meatbags_."

There wasn't much Penny could do other than dodge. This android wasn't any of the known Red Siblings; she didn't have anything that could combat his powers. And even dodging didn't work when the ground caved under Penny, Aqualad, and Artemis.

The three fell into the crevasse, Artemis swiftly pulling an arrow and Penny equally as fast retrieving her grappling gun. They shot to the top, sandwiching Aqualad between them as they were barely pulled out in time, the ravine snapping shut beneath them.

To the right, Robin leaped off a slab of rock positioned as a ramp and threw a birdarang at the robot, who caught it effortlessly. Quips, insults, and other conversation was flung between the two sides as the team's onslaught yielded nothing.

The android turned to the sky, two red lasers shooting straight up and a volcano spewing lava simultaneously behind him. The team tried harder as Kid Flash updated them to the robot's plans of using the volcano to destroy humanity…but even with the more powerful members attacking from all sides, they regrouped with little to nothing accomplished. Just as the android was about to attack again, a spout of water rose from behind Aqualad and knocked the robot straight into one of the created pools of lava.

"Nice hit!" Robin praised.

"The hit was not mine," Aqualad replied, "look!"

The whole team turned to see one of the Reds controlling the water. Their new ally gathered more water and shot it at the evil robot as he tried to exit the lava. Then came Red Tornado, knocking the android off the pillar of rock it was using to rise from the lava. And finally the woman-like android, blasting fiery balls and successfully knocking the android yet again into the lava.

"Sister, Brothers, stop!" the android cried, grappling with his siblings in the lava. They sank out of view. Tornado plunged feet-first after them, and right before and explosion burst forth, was rescued by Superboy and brought to rest beside the assembled heroes. He lacked any leg under the knees, and Penny supposed there was yet another reason to be thankful that he was a robot for. Before anyone could sigh in relief at the apparent demise of the evil android, the volcanic mound shifted with a moan and seemed to rise taller, vibrating ominously.

"Tornado, listen! We're on the verge of a Stage Three super-volcano eruption!" Kid Flash shouted, "there's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, _fast_! But the ash cloud with bring on world-wide nuclear winter unless you divert it!"

Red Tornado gave a nod. Kid Flash ordered Robin, "triangulate around the pressure locust!"

"Right!" Robin said, complying. Three red dots appeared on his holo-computer and he announced, "there, there, and there!"

Artemis immediately fired an arrow which split into three smaller ones. They landed on the furiously shifting volcano without difficulty, creating small explosions upon impact. Red Tornado generated a twister and flew above the gathering cloud, soon disappearing into the dark sky. Before long, the cloud dispersed.

And it was over.

"Yes!" Kid Flash fist-pumped with his bad arm. They team rushed to Red Tornado's aid as he collapsed on the ground. "Take that, tin can!"

Miss Martian called the bioship over and they only had to wait a few seconds before it arrived and de-camouflaged. Penny grinned, turned her invisibility off, and raced Robin to the door while Superboy carried Red Tornado and the rest of the team followed close behind.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Sorry that the ending is a bit rushed!**

 **I should be posting a chapter completely about Camber next week (as noted in last chapter's author's note), so the next episode (Failsafe!) won't be started till the week after that.**


	20. Parakeet

**Disclaimer: I actually think I owned everything mentioned in this chapter, but just to be safe: I don't own Young Justice**

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I was about nine when it happened. I think I was turning ten two months later—because I left the school between the first and second semester, during winter break in December. Yeah, that sounds right. My birthday was-er, is-in February.

I remember hugging my best friend Penelope(she prefers to be called Penny, though sometimes I denied, teasing as to why in the world I would want to call her the name of the most worthless coin, as cute as it may sound) as I said goodbye. At that age, neither of us had emails, or phones, and I didn't know the address of my soon-to-be home. We wouldn't be able to contact each other at all, especially since my father had caused our parents to be on icy terms.

That's why there was a lot of crying that day.

Penny babbled on about how she would miss me. She always was a chatterbox, just like her adorable younger sister-you'd think as one of the best singers in choir Penny would at least try to preserve her voice for her favorite past time, but she never thought about that once. I know she didn't, because I didn't either.

A week into winter break, me, my mother, my father, and my two older brothers were all on the plane leaving overseas. My parents had explained we needed several plane rides, as the ride would be way too long to go straight to Korea.

We didn't make it the Korea. Not even to whatever airport was our first stop.

 _We freakin' crashed into the Atlantic Ocean._

I don't remember anything about that day. A few fuzzy stray emotions of panic and fear bursting out of the previous sorrow from leaving my only(I was a little shy) friend behind. Aside from that...nothing. Well, I guess waking up half dead floating on a piece of who-knows-what is a memory, but I'm pretty sure that was the next day. I'm just lucky someone found me.

Or rather, unlucky.

…...

The Quest For Camber

…...

I glanced warily behind me. The distraction I'd caused would keep them busy for a good day or two. With that amount of time in mind, I constructed a half-decent story and proceeded to track down my once-fifth-grade best friend.

As I stand at the door of Penny's new house, I hesitate. Why did she move? Did something happen? Will our relationship be different? Will she recognize me? I don't think I could stand it if she didn't.

I knocked on the door politely. I was armed with my ever-present glasses, a purse, and money. It was relatively early in the morning on a Saturday, so the chances of sn answer were slim. However, the door opened, and standing at the threshold was an old woman, who looked somewhere in her sixties. Her greying hair was streaked with faded brown, pulled up in a classic bun. Thin red glasses perched her nose.

"Hello," the stranger greeted with a small smile, "can I help you?"

"Er, yeah," I replied. I was suddenly doubting my stalking skills. Had I found the wrong house? "I'm looking for my friend, Penny."

"Well then, come right in!" The kindly woman grinned, waving me inside. I obeyed doubtfully. The room directly in the entry appeared to be the living room, with a spiraling staircase in the back corner. A couch inhabited the center. A hump covered with a blanket snored loudly on it. The television was on the sports channel, sound at its minimum.

"I'm Penelope's grandmother," the woman said cheerfully, "you can call me Mary."

Newly dubbed Mary gestured towards the stairs while shutting the door, "she's sleeping up there. I assume you know her condition?"

"Condition?" I echoed. What did Penny's grandmother mean by that? And why in the world was Penny living with her grandparents? Something must have happened.

Mary's demeanor sagged. She replied quietly, "involving the accident…when was the last time you saw Penny?"

My suspicions grew drastically, "around seven years ago. Why?"

"Well, Honey," Mary said. Honey? The next sentence came bluntly, "Less than seven years ago Penny lost her parents and little sister in a car crash. Honey, the same accident left her mute. She can't talk at all."

My jaw hit rock bottom. I gaped at Penny's grandmother, surprise written on my features clear as day.

That cheerful, chattering girl I loved so much(in a friendly way :D), couldn't speak. She couldn't sing anymore. Her nice and understanding parents were gone, as well as her cute and friendly little sister.

"Wha?" I spluttered intelligently. I then even more intelligently spat out, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Because as she was Penny's grandparent, one of the parents must have been her child, and Penny's little sister her grandaughter. I just wish I hadn't said what everyone else says when they find out someone's lost loved ones.

"Honey," what's with the 'Honey', anyways? "It certainly wasn't your fault. It's been years, we've moved on."

My head finally adjusted to what she'd said and I manage to quip, "Sorry's underrated."

To my surprise, Mary cracked a grin, "that it is. Thank you for your condolences."

With a final determined shake of my head, I proceeded to climb the stairs. At the top was a small foyer, decorated with a simple flowery painting and a vase in the corner. Very old-feeling. It was easy to believe the house was reigned over by grandparents. I ignored the decorations and snuck into the room quietly, Mary's warning about Penny sleeping sticking to my thoughts.

I glanced to each side, finally locating the light switch to my left and promptly flicking it on.

The room was highly decorated. Choir certificates hung in a hodgepodge alignment above the large window occupying the center of the wall opposite to the door. A few framed photos also dotted the walls, consisting of Penny's parents and sister, grandparents, and a few of her cousins. I grinned at a photo adorning the table—a small girl with a multitude of freckles and light brown hair enthusiastically hugged a tenderly smiling noirette who wore a pair of oversized glasses. Aside from the photo, a laptop computer lay on the table, half open and screen off, as well as a stack of folders and what looked like a worksheet of math homework. The room was surprisingly clean for a teenager who wasn't expecting a guest, with the exception of the pile of blankets strewn at the base of her bed.

I smirked with devilish intent. Walking over to her dresser, I pulled open a drawer. I immediately closed it. I tried a different drawer, and found garments that weren't inappropriate to look through occupying it. I examined most, then repeated the process with the other drawers, though I was carefully avoiding that one drawer. Finding that the contents were less than chic, all just plain shirts and jeans with no style, I proceeded to climb onto the bed.

It was a full minute before Penny woke up. I spent that minute contemplating how much of a creeper I seemed to be. Finally her eyes fluttered open, and I stared at her intensely.

"Huaahh!" she yelped breathily. She swiftly scooted away from me and pressed herself against the headboard.

I strengthened my smirk and noted nonchalantly, "you tossed off all your blankets in your sleep."

Of course, I didn't know that. For all I know, she tossed them off before going to bed. But why not sound as if I've been watching her sleep for an undetermined amount of time? I really like messing with her.

She stared at me wildly. I internally sighed and said, "does the name Camber ring a bell?"

Apparently it did.

…...

Teaser

…...

I knew my idea wasn't great. I used basic code techniques to deliver my message, and it was a rather lame idea. I didn't even know if it worked.

I had been staying it an unknown location—well, it was supposed to be unknown but I could see the Crescent Moon baseball caps pass under my window from time to time, and I easily guessed I was in Crescent City. I even used to have one of those caps. The Crescent Moons, despite their cheesy name, were, and even after seven years probably still are, the best baseball team ever. At least in my eyes. They may have tended to lose as much as they won.

So I asked my address, and the goon guarding me decided there was no harm in a street name if I didn't even know the city.

 _Sucker!_

In any case, bribing another goon to stage an operation—it didn't matter what kind—and give whoever showed up the paper when they asked for the ringleader wasn't too hard. Especially when you knew where your captors hid the food and supplies money.

For an organization so secret and malicious and cunning, I'm surprised they let idiots keep track of me. Though the security was actually good enough to prevent me from escaping, not that I would try with that stupid promise of endangering Penny.

Well, I heard that someone's been taking out operations and staking organizations in Astro City, so I reasoned Crescent City would be close enough for them to go out of their way and rescue me, and then I could tell whoever they are to protect Penny and her family.

Cue fate.

The day after I arranged it, two days before it would happen, I was told we were changing shop. In came the improvising: pitiful codes and hopes that they would have any idea who Camber was. Based on how long had passed, I doubted they did.

So now I'm in a blank room, no windows this time, with a pile of strange fabric at my feet. I was expected to try it on, and was allowed to request changes to it. But the design actually wasn't bad.

Raising the green and yellow costume, I tentatively pulled one of the gloves on, clenching and wiggling my hand around to test it. A bang on the door told me to hurry up.

I dragged the rest of it on.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **The end of the chapter! Hope it's satisfying :)**

 **See you next week, and reviews are highly appreciated!**


	21. Failsafe

**So...I'm alive. Didn't I end last chapter by saying 'see you next week'?**

 **Pfft. I don't need deadlines.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything DC.**

 **ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The team was silent, watching the holographic display that was so vibrant compared to the ominously quiet room. The screen showed a live feed of space. While space itself was rather calm, fierce action was being dished out by the dozen in it.

Penny was really impressed. She, like the rest of the team, knew this was a training exercise, but it was _just_ _so realistic._ She thought it be a little fuzzy, like a dream, but it was remarkably lucid. She guessed the fact that the Martian Manhunter was running the simulation helped with the quality, but how he managed to stay aware of all the small details was a mystery to her.

It was also pretty clear that the video they were being shown would be their objective...unless there was a hidden or underlying mission to test their observation skills?

She slightly winced when one of the alien ships' beam struck Batman's jet, seemingly vaporizing it and the man inside. Another screen suddenly popped up, showing Zatara, and Red Tornado turned to face it.

"Tornado, did you…" the magician trailed off.

"Yes, Zatara," Red Tornado replied, "we saw. Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures.

"Affirmative. See you in the field," Zatara confirmed hastily. The screen disappeared. Tornado turned to address the team.

"I must join the league. We will protect the planet at all costs," he said, "but should we fail, the responsibility falls to you."

All glance at the solemn faces of his teammates was all Aqualad needed to reply:

"We stand ready."

…...

"Red Tornado to cave." The com crackled for a split second as the Justice Leaguer called in. The team shifted in anticipation. "I fear I am all that remains of the League-"  
On the video, a beam of light struck the android, Robin simultaneously yelling, "RT!"

There was a brief silence before Aqualad spoke up. "We are Earth's heroes now."

"So what are we waiting for?" Superboy demanded, "a theme song?"  
"A strategy," Aqualad replied reasonably. Robin was busy on his holo-computer, but lowered his wrist to listen. "Earth's weapons are ineffective, and it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed."

"Checking satellite imagery," Robin spoke up, doing just that. Penny walked from behind Aqualad to beside Miss Martian so she wouldn't have to peer over heads at the large holographic globe now occupying the center of their attention.

"Here's where the aliens are now," Robin pointed out. Blots of red tainted the world's continents, covering where the most civilization was, but a single dot near the top of the globe caught everyone's attention.

"This one get lost?" Superboy asked, pointing at the lone alien.

"It's Superman's Fortress of Solitude!" Robin exclaimed.

 _Superman has a fortress? Of 'Solitude'?_

Superboy unknowingly repeated her thoughts, "Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?"

"Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention," Robin commented, looking at Superboy. "At least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."

"Must be some fortress," Superboy growled, stalking away.

"Conner!" Miss Martian rushed to his side.

He paused and remarked bitterly, "nah, it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know. Uh, y'know, _now_."

They were on their own, Penny realized. Superboy was referring to the way Superman had just been vaporized, and that had been done so _easily._ The aliens had taken down most, probably all, of the League, and a group of seven teenagers with (and without) powers was tasked the job of saving the world.

What a _great_ training exercise, huh?

"We will target this lone ship," Aqualad stated.

"Yeah," Kid Flash agreed vehemently, "break it down! Build more! Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo!"

Artemis elbowed him in the ribs, earning an insulted 'ow!' from the speedster, and whispered fiercely in his ear. He realized his mistake and stumbled over his apology: "not that _all_ aliens are automatically ugly…"

Well, at least he tried.

…

While Penny didn't have a winter camouflage mode on her suit(she should have one, because what if her invisibility belt broke or something?), she did have her untrusty invisibility belt. This was useful, seeing as how black her suit is compared to how white the Arctic is. Also considering the fact they were trying to be stealthy and not sticking out just crying to be disintegrated.

As she slipped behind a chunk of ice that jutted out from the ground, Penny noted that the scout ship was similar to the other invading alien ships, a sleek black hovercraft hovering above the ground with two wings curved towards the front and a device perched atop it as weaponry.

A part of the ship was suddenly torn off by an invisible force, and Miss Martian's voice rang clearly into their heads.

 _[Communications disabled.]_ The ship crashed to the ground, missing its entire right wing. _[Propulsion disabled.]_

An arrow landed on the reddish face of the cockpit between the two wings, grey foam sprouting out and covering the portion effectively. Penny was startled when the cannon on the top began wildly shooting the area from whence the arrow had come, but she had expected something like that to happen.

 _[And ETs are sealed inside!]_ Artemis reported.

Aqualad burst from the ground, having been waiting under the ice in the water, and landed with his water bearers ready. Penny nearly held her breath when the cannon swiveled towards him, but Wolf quickly leaped and bit onto it, the momentum pushing the weapon away from Aqualad, causing it to miss its shot. Superboy joined Aqualad and Wolf on the ship, and Penny rushed to join them at the same time Kid Flash and Robin arrived. She hesitated before climbing on, knowing that her help might not be needed.

 _[Identifying weapon's structural stress points and links to the ship,]_ Robin said before pointing at said stress points located on the tube connecting the cannon to the ship, _[here, here, and here.]_

Miss Martian blasted each of them, and Superboy immediately hefted the cannon as hard as he could once she was done, slowly pulling it off the ship.

From where she was, Penny didn't quite see what had alerted Wolf, but suddenly the venom-enhanced canine barreled towards Superboy, knocking him off the spacecraft, and was blasted by a disintegration beam, swiftly disappearing from existence.

There was shocked pause, but the team gathered themselves together quickly.

 _[There was no indication of feedback,]_ Robin noted, glancing towards Superboy, who was standing again, _[I'm sorry.]_

Only a second later, Superboy's hushed voice responded, _[can't do anything for him now.]_

He returned to the top of the ship and ripped the weapon cleanly off before jumping onto the bioship, it having just pulled up next to him in shimmering camouflage mode. Miss Martian landed next to him, pressing her hands to her ship's surface to cause the area to ripple gently. The ripple swirled upwards, turning from invisible to a deep red as it attached itself to the cannon.

 _[Rerouting systems to integrate weapon into ship's biomatrix,]_ the martian announced. The sound of more alien spacecrafts slicing through the air reached Penny's ears, and she and the unoccupied boys glanced to see two more scout ships zooming across the sky just as Miss Martian added, _[I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes.]_

 _[You may not have a few minutes,]_ Robin noted, him, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Penny all simultaneously leaping onto the bioship as the scout ships passed overhead.

His thoughts overlapped Penny's as she warned, _[two more ships approaching!]_

The scouts mirrored each other as they swerved sharply in the air to directly face the group, diving steeply towards them.

 _[Miss Martian, open fire!]_ Aqualad commanded.

 _[Can't. Weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon,]_ Miss Martian answered, sparing their leader a glance. Penny's hand edged towards the pocket in her belt containing bombs. _[And that's not fully integrated yet, either!]_

 _[Gotcha covered!]_ Artemis's voice drew their attention to the archer, who was alone on the icy ground with three arrows notched and in plain view of the quickly approaching ships. _[Get inside! I'm almost there!]_

None of them moved, watching in horrible fascination as her three arrow flew true, completely exploding one of the enemy ships and grounding the other. It skidded to a stop on the ground, and Artemis was sprinting for the bioship which sunk to the ground so she could get on. The cannon on the grounded scout ship turned to face Artemis and she whipped around to face it at Miss Martian's warning, bow at the ready. And feeling as if it were in slow motion, Penny saw the charge shoot out a blinding beam that engulfed Artemis completely.

M'gann screamed Artemis's name out loud. But it was too late.

And Penny halted in the middle of her path(when had she started to move?), mouth agape and staring in shock at the place Artemis had just been, and she felt like she had been ripped into reality.

Artemis had just _died_. She wasn't supposed to _die_. They were The Team, the resolute backup, they would fix things and get out of it together. This was their teammate and she was just vaporised. _Right. In. Front. Of. Them._

And Penny didn't quite know what to think, just that of all things, she hadn't expected that to happen.

Wally echoed M'gann's cry. There was a dull thump, and Penny glanced behind herself to see Kaldur had also leaped off the bioship. His water bearers were drawn.

"Everyone, get inside," he ordered. Not pausing to see if they complied, the atlantean rushed towards the spacecraft. Penny watched the inevitable destruction of the ship in a dream-like state, barely registering Wally's declaration of revenge before they filed into the bioship. Only after a minute of flight did she notice M'gann sobbing, and Wally pounding the desk in frustration. And she knew she would have to suck it up. If not to shove away the sorrow and feel better, but to help her _living_ teammates. They were in the middle of a mission, and death was a risk they took. If they were all crying, they wouldn't get anything done, and innocent people would have their loved ones taken away from them as well.

They were being counted on.

And Penny was determined not to disappoint.

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad said, startling her out of her thoughts. "Now we have a job to do. Defend the earth. And ensure Artemis's sacrifice was not in vain."

"Back to the Cave?" Miss Martian asked.

"The Hall of Justice. The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

….

Penny could hardly recognize the Hall of Justice. Not that she had ever seen it in real life, but the building they approached was way different than the pictures.

Dank light filtered through the eerie brown and grey clouds, highlighting the littered forms of tanks and soldiers. The Hall itself was a dull brown in the light, shards of glass missing from the previously majestic dome to lay dejected on the ground.

Having encountered General Eiling at the Capitol, they had finally reached the Hall of Justice.

Penny hadn't thought her first time seeing it outside of postcards would be so full of grief.

The inside was just as bad. She could practically sense her teammates' sorrow as they all stared at the mostly-destroyed statues of the Justice League. Robin broke the growing silence.

"They're really gone." No one answered, but Miss Martian floated to the head of the Martian Manhunter statue, said large object lying lopsided on the floor. She broke out into sobs.

The martian suddenly flew backwards, causing Penny to blink as Miss Martian levitated the bust up and away from…

 _The Martian Manhunter?_

"Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martian dried out in delight, ready to envelop him in a hug while simultaneously tossing the chunk of stone to the side. Aqualad sprang in front of her, arms spread in warning.

 _[M'gann, check his mind,]_ he urged, _[make sure he is whom he appears to be.]_

 _[It's him,]_ she replied in excitement, _[he's real. And he's alive!]_

"But we saw you get disintegrated," Superboy said aloud, addressing the Martian Manhunter, "you _and_ Superman! And everyone!"

"Yes," replied the Martian Manhunter. Miss Martian lifted him up as he clutched his head in a hand, "I remember. But...I can not remember how I survived. Or how I arrived here."

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you," Miss Martian suggested. Her voice was notably happier than before. Understandable. Her uncle just came back to life.

"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Robin added.

"My mind _is_ clouded," the Martian Manhunter responded. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you."

 _[Come on!]_ Kid Flash said energetically. Wordlessly, he dashed outside. Exchanging a questioning look with Robin, Robin trailed after him while the rest of the team lingered inside. Kid Flash recruited Robin to scan the weapon MIss Martian had added to the bioship.

 _[I knew it!]_ the speedster declared, _[look! It's giving off zeta-beams-the same stuff that powers our zeta-tubes. This thing doesn't disintegrate! It teleports. Artemis is alive!]_

Penny didn't know quite what to think. Robin seemed to be in the same state of mind, saying, _[maybe. Bu-]_

 _[No maybe's!]_ Kid Flash interrupted happily, _[they're all alive!]_

"That must've been what you wanted to tell us!" Miss Martian exclaimed, looking up at her uncle. He looked doubtful. It struck Penny that he must be sharing the mindlink with them.

Suddenly, a troop of the invading ships shot across the sky, blasting wildly towards the vulnerable Kid Flash and Robin, as well as a soldier near them. All three shielded themselves with the army jeep the two proteges had been standing on.

 _[We're on our way,]_ Aqualad said, about to dart from the cover of the Hall of Justice.

 _[Negative,]_ Robin said. Aqualad paused in his path. _[We can't win this. Miss Martian, camo the bioship-]_

A beam of light struck the bioship, and it disappeared. And judging by the twin yells from the martians, the bioship hadn't merely been shifted into camouflage mode.

 _[Are you okay?]_ Penny asked, sprinting over to the fallen martians. Superboy reached Miss Martian the next split-second, fearlessly scooping her into his arms. Penny was alarmed to see tears streaming from her eyes.

"That...didn't _feel_ like…" Miss Martian said haltingly.

 _[We're falling back,]_ Robin said. Soon enough, he, Kid Flash, the soldier and General Eiling all ran into the building. Aqualad opened the door into what looked like a library, and everyone hurried in, including other arriving soldiers.

"We can all zeta-tube to the Cave," Aqualad said, glancing at the Martian Manhunter, "if you can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes."

"I can only authorize one at a time," he replied.

"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad ordered immediately.

Just as quickly, General Eiling asserted, "Belay that! You seven are assets we cannot afford to lose!"

After a moment's thought, Aqualad nodded to the Martian Manhunter, who went ahead with the authorization. The zeta-tube opened up, whirring to life. Miss Martian was scanned first, the Robin as she was entering. As Kid Flash went ahead, an explosion rocked the room, causing everyone to flail for balance. Superboy went to aid the soldiers firing rapidly at the incoming hostiles, while Aqualad shoved Kid Flash into the zeta-tube.

Superboy soon returned with a soldier over his soldier. "He goes first."

"Fine. Then you," Aqualad insisted. He glanced at Penny, who frowned at his gaze, turned away, and slung the Martian Manhunter over her shoulder. Superboy was just disappearing into the teleporter. Penny flung the reluctant Martian Manhunter into the zeta-tube, and felt Aqualad's presence behind her. She could hear zaps as the soldiers were being hit by the beam one by one. She knew she only had a split second to think before acting.

In that split second, Penny considered her options.

In her mind, the scenario was set in stone. Aqualad, selfless as he was, would push her into the zeta-tube. Of course, Penny was a logical thinker, and probably almost as selfless. After all, if Aqualad died, and she was horribly certain that was the case rather than Wally's hopes of teleportation, then the team would be without a leader. They would be able to hold together, of course, but if Aqualad was with them their job would probably be much easier. Penny's powers weren't much when facing against machinery or super-powered beings. If Aqualad lived rather than her...

In that split second, instead of Aqualad pushing Penny into the zeta-tube, _Penny pushed Aqualad._

And then all she could see was light.

…..

The instant she could _feel_ anything, Penny was sucking in a lungful of air as if her life depended on it. That, or she was gasping sharply, breathing rapidly. Her eyes snapped open and she lunged upwards, successfully sitting up.

The air was not nearly as stuffy as it had been in the wrecked Hall of Justice. No gunfire was rattling her ears, no foreboding thrummed in her mind. It was calm. Well, she wasn't calm. Not after what she had witnessed. And glancing around the room, she was shocked to see Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, and Batman completely and utterly alive. And Artemis as well. Artemis was alive.

Penny was afraid to close her eyes, and attempted to slow down her breathing. She didn't want this to be a dream, though judging by the fact that everyone seemed to be waking up and recovering from something as well on each of their blocks, something had happened.

"You're all alive!" Miss Martian exclaimed. Batman muttered something to the Martian Manhunter.

"The exercise…" he replied, "it all went wrong."

"Exercise?" Robin queried, echoing Penny's thoughts.

"Try to remember," Batman said, "what you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in."

Penny frowned, trying to remember the introduction of the mission in the cave by Red Tornado. She couldn't remember having thought of anything about a training exercise at that time, but she did get a strong sense of wonder. What did that have to do with this?

"What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise," Batman continued, "no matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes," the Martian Manhunter added. "But all that changed when Artemis died."

A few of the Team, including Penny, glanced at the archer. She wore a look of guilt, though it was hidden by her bowed head.

"Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise, and her subconscious took control, making all of you forget, too."

"I-I'm so sorry," M'gann apologized upon the team switching their gazes to her.

"This isn't her fault!" Conner defended, "why didn't you stop the exercise?"

"We tried, but M'gann had a death grip on the scenario," Manhunter responded, "even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed that she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within, but upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much..noise to think clearly. To remember why I was there."

He paused, letting their minds catch up to his story before continuing, "the deaths of Glance, Aqualad, and Superboy helped. Both only when the mother-ship exploded and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose: to shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent."

"My apologies," he finished, "I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous...so damaging."

Penny finally allowed her eyes to close more than a blink, and exhaled a wavering breath.

When she opened them again, the still-present group of heroes finally allowed her to breath normally.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **The thing I like about this episode is that I can literally end it anywhere. I just have to choose a time I want her to die, and voila.**

 **The things I hate are the ridiculously long speeches at the end. They're a pain to write.**


	22. Disordered and TNVIT P1

**Disclaimer: while a good chunk of this chapter contains material belonging to me, I hold no rights to Young Justice**

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In a small way, it was ironic. She was expected to...talk. To a counselor. She hadn't bothered bringing a pen, or paper, or any other way of communication except for sign language. And she knew Black Canary didn't know sign language. Even so, like the others had been and would be, she was seated in a green couch-like chair with the black-clad superhero sitting solemnly across from her.

Penny was frowning unconsciously. Just a tilt of her lips. Black Canary peered at her intently. Penny occupied herself by watching the water display. Black Canary let out a small sigh.

"It was horrible, wasn't it?" the older heroine asked.

Horrible. That was one way to describe it. Akin to the devastation she had felt when she woke in a hospital bed, choking on air when she tried to speak. Being told her parents, her sister, _her family_ was dead. Penny had gone through this before, and she couldn't believe she was going through it again.

Artemis _had_ died. To Penny, she had died. The world _had_ been in danger of destruction. Everything _had_ been real. But then it wasn't. Even when everything was set right, Penny didn't remember the exercise as a dream-nightmare-she remembered it as if it had really happened. And so did the rest of the team.

"Penelope?" Black Canary queried. Penny blinked out of her thoughts to look at her counselor, who watched her expectantly. She didn't even motion in sign language, merely bringing her feet onto the chair and resting her chin on her knees with a sigh. Her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

What could she have done to prevent this from happening? Someone would have died in the exercise eventually, even if Artemis's 'death' was initially prevented. Everyone, Penny included(though it depended on who was 'killed' first) would have suffered in the end. None of what happened could have been prevented or foreseen by anyone.

Sometimes Penny felt useless.

She should be trying to recover from the experience. None of it had been real. Everyone was alive. She should be okay. Instead, she was just moping around like the rest of the team. But at least they had their reasons. She was just...well, moping. Dwelling on the exercise instead of being ready to help people.

"I know you must feel that this is useless, but even the voiceless can share their thoughts," Black Canary was saying. Penny's frown loosened, and she let her feet return to the floor. Canary brightened considerably, until the teenager abruptly leapt out of her chair and dashed out the door as if she had suddenly remembered she had somewhere else to be, leaving a stunned Canary to wonder how in the world she had caused _two_ teenage heroes to flee her counseling that day.

…..

Patrol sounded nice. Penny rarely patrolled her city during the night, much less the day. What better time to get in the habit than while she feels down, right?

Two hours of actionless crossing the roofs of buildings later, Penny was really regretting being left alone with her thoughts. But at least she didn't have Black Canary treating her to a pressuring stare. Now, if only she could find-

 _SSSSCCCCREEEEEEEEEEECCCHHH._

-A car skidding uncontrollably while beeping wildly in warning towards a perfectly unaware cyclist that had his headphones turned to a volume audible from where even Penny was standing on the top of an apartment overlooking the otherwise quiet street. Yes, this was _totally_ what she was looking for.

Penny's jumped off roofs before. Usually into an alley, so that she can acrobatic her way down. But luckily when she swan-dived towards the wide, empty(sort of) street, she had a grappling gun on her that she shot towards the opposite building. Swooping down snatch the teenager off his bike, she would have looked like a guardian angel or something had she not had her invisibility on. The bike clattered to the ground, the headphones lay skewed on the boy's head and blasting her eardrums to oblivion, and the pair soared straight towards the side of the building. It was then Penny realized that she hadn't quite practiced handling a grappling gun while carrying someone else, much less someone heavier than her. And thrashing in her arms. _Geez man, do you_ want _me to drop you?_

So she had a feeling they weren't going to land neatly on top of the building. In fact, it seemed more like...yes, okay, fine. She could deal with this.

Penny braced herself. This would hurt a lot. She would essentially be faceplanting into a wall, but at least there were very few witnesses, and she was invisible. Hauling her struggling and bewildered passenger from under her arm was hard, of course. After all, one hand was occupied holding the grappling gun while the arm it belonged to felt like it was being ripped out of the socket. Using the momentum of the swing for her purpose was easier, because all it required was a swing of the legs. And a full two seconds after she had nabbed the cyclist of his bike, and a second after said bike was totalled by an out-of-control car, the teenage heroine had tossed the boy onto the roof of the building, while she herself hung from the ledge, thoroughly winded from the slightly cushioned impact her side had made against the building's brick wall.

What better way to get your head in the game than getting all sense knocked out of you, right?

It felt like she had broken a rib. Maybe she did. Penny had been so reckless-she could have simply shot the grappling hook at the bike, then dragged it out of the car's path before the cyclist had time to fall off. It probably would have spared both of them some bruises. And a rib. Peering down at the street, the driver of the car looked okay. After all, he was stumbling out of the car(which was crushed into the pole of a traffic light) without any blood on him. The cyclist was fine, too. He was looking at the street, completely confused as to how he had ended up on the roof of a nearby building. Penny decided to check up the driver and leave the poor boy up there, because she was not in the mood to appear unexpectedly next to him and not be able to answer his questions. At least his music was off. Maybe she broke his phone when she threw him up there.

It sure felt like a broken rib. Penny had one once before. But maybe this time it was just bruised or cracked, because the pain was a little toned down and mostly present when she twisted her torso or touched her side.

She alighted carefully next to the driver. He was a middle aged man, who seemed to be in shock. The only thing she was confused about was where he was looking. His car had just become a pile of junk, but he was staring back down the road he had come from.

 _Curious. Might as well check it out._

It's that very thought that causes Penny to regret leaving Black Canary's counseling without explanation. She'd much rather sit and bear the pressuring silence of some room than find out that Astro City has its first supervillain ever.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Ta-da!**

 **Sorry it's so short. I just didn't want to make you guys wait longer. Though it has a bit of a cliffhanger.**


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